Perspective editorial Innovative strategies for hepatitis C in Belgium integrating treatment efficacy, public disease burden, and healthcare costs

Hepatitis C is a leading cause of chronic liver disease, end-stage cirrhosis and liver cancer worldwide (1). Thus far, the standard of care approved for hepatitis C in -Belgium-shows-relatively-limited-efficacy-and-is-usually associated with serious, not always reversible side ef- fects. As a consequence, patients who are of utmost need for therapy are often not eligible for these treatments. A number of new generation therapies with extremely high efficacy- and- a- good- safety- profile- are- in- the- pipeline-(2) which likely will revolutionize (near) future HCV treatment. SO. gaining good insight into the health-, eco- nomic- and societal burden associated with HCV and its sequelae is of key importance to appropriately assess the value of these new innovative treatments(2,4). As Belgium has been found to lag behind with respect to HCV disease detection and treatment, the Belgian Working Group on HCV aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the burden associated with HCV infec- tion in Belgium through assessing HCV-related preva- lence and attributable mortality, and through assessing the health and economic impact using different innova- tive scenarios of diagnosis and treatment rates (5-7). The development of public health strategies will allow us to predict the global impact of new treatment and preven- tion initiatives, all correctly informing health policy.