Building on the success of the nation’s first comprehensive cross-agency action plan, released in 2011, Combating the Silent Epidemic of Viral Hepatitis: Action Plan for the Prevention, Care, & Treatment of Viral Hepatitis, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Justice (DOJ), and Veterans Affairs (VA) developed and released a 3-year update of that plan in April 2014.
The updated Action Plan continues to pursue its four overarching national goals by 2020:
- Increase the proportion of persons who are aware of their HBV infection from 33 percent to 66 percent,
- Increase the proportion of persons who are aware of their HCV infection from 45 percent to 66 percent,
- Reduce the number of new cases of HCV infection by 25 percent, and
- Eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HBV.
The updated plan details more than 150 actions organized around six priority areas that agencies and offices from across the four federal departments will pursue between 2014 and 2016 to achieve these goals.