RALEIGH – A multi-million dollar initiative has been launched in North Carolina to fight the dramatic rise in statewide hepatitis C infections fueled by the opioid crisis. HepConnect, launched by Gilead Sciences, is a five-year initiative that aims to increase hepatitis C screenings and provide better treatment for those infected.

A spokesperson for Gilead says HepConnect has three primary focuses: providing harm reduction services, activating healthcare infrastructure, and expanding screenings.

“If you’re somebody who is using injection drugs, you will see that there’s going to be more resources available to you,” said Dr. Jill Foster, Senior Director at Gilead Sciences. “There will be a lot more resources for these folks to be able to make steps forward to making themselves safer. Hopefully, these efforts start around safer injection and then move even people toward stopping their drug use.”

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that can cause severe liver damage. The virus is most commonly spread through the use of dirty needles.

“The biggest thing is the sharing of dirty equipment or equipment that’s been contaminated with the virus,” Foster said. “One person uses the equipment or a dirty needle and when they pass it on to somebody else to use, the blood gets transferred from one person to another. All you need is one person in that group of people sharing needles to have hepatitis C, and pretty much everyone who shared that needle then has it.”

North Carolina is now the fifth state to launch HepConnect, following Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Indiana.