Users News looks into some lesser known facts about hep C, exploring the transmission routes that don’t get discussed publicly as much. Everything from dodgy cosmetic surgeries to fights in jail.

The NSP (needle exchange) at 345 Crown St, Surry Hills is run by NUAA, the organisation that publishes Users News. There are some minor changes happening at the NSP.

Users News explores the appeal and health risks of illegal tattooing.

Users News provides an update on how NUAA is helping to eliminate hepatitis C in Australia.

This year, NUAA outreach workers have participated in 2 successful high-intensity testing campaigns in NSW Correctional Centres. In April, the HITC crew were in Nowra at the South Coast Correctional Centre where over 90% of the population received a hep C test. This was followed by another successful event at the Bathurst Correctional Centre in June.

Hepatitis C peer worker Kiah Glasson shares her story with Users News and gives the low down on all things hep C.

Reflections on the missing piece in the hepatitis C elimination puzzle: the supply of clean sterile injecting equipment in Australian correctional centres.

Opioids (heroin and synthetic opioids) have recently been detected in drugs sold as crystal meth in NSW. This unexpected mix is a reminder of how important it is to always practice harm reduction. We pulled this guide together to address the harms of getting unexpected opioids in your meth.

Hepatitis means 'inflammation of the liver'. The liver is a vital organ — it does over 500 things, including detoxing the body of the poisons in medications, pollution and processed foods; storing iron and other vitamins; storing energy from food and releasing it when you need it; and defending against germs like flus and colds.

Carla is a peer worker at a Needle and Syringe Program and in the hep C testing and treatment space. She tells how she uses her lived experience helps her help others to access the health care they need.

Interview with 3 people with lived experience of incarceration who gave us the lowdown on the risk of hep C in jail and how it is best avoided.

In late March, the Peers on Wheels (POW) project carried out its 600^th Point of Care Test (POCT) for the hep C virus. The POW project is an ongoing 1-year pilot scheme by NUAA — in partnership with The Kirby Institute, NSW Health, and selected Local Health Districts — to bring hep C testing and treatment to people who inject drugs, wherever they are in NSW.

Hep C isn’t nice. It makes you feel permanently sick and run down. There are reasons, however, why people might be reluctant about getting treated. Before 2016, the main treatment was Interferon. As Aunt Libby — an Aboriginal elder and grandmother of 13 (soon to be 14) — explains, that treatment could feel worse than the illness it was curing. The good news is that the new treatment (a box of pills called “Direct Acting Antivirals” or DAAs) is much easier: fewer pills, no injections and much fewer side effects. Furthermore, they are free or cheap, and if you get reinfected you can do the treatment again — as many times as you need to. Aunt Libby has had both hep C treatments. In this article she compares the 2 and says, “I’d recommend this treatment to anyone. But Interferon, they can forget about that one!”

Through the Peers on Wheels (POW) project, NUAA has partnered with The Kirby Institute, NSW Health, and selected Local Health Districts, to work towards eliminating hep C through outreach, testing and offering treatment options. At the heart of the project is a van, with a Point of Care Testing (POCT) machine and a skilled peer workforce. The aim is to remove barriers to hep C treatment among people who inject drugs by going to where people live and providing the service without stigma. The POW team has visited various regional cities and towns and rural communities around NSW, but Users News caught up with them in Riverwood in the suburbs of Sydney.

Kate is a proud Aboriginal woman who has a history of injecting heroin. She wants to share her unique experience of clearing hep C twice, nearly 2 decades apart. Her first treatment was in prison in the early 2000s, with Interferon. Soon after she got out of prison, she got hep C again and didn’t get treated until 2019. Getting treated a second time has been life changing for her and she now supports peers with hep C and drug use.

A number of things come up for users at this time of year: organising pharmacotherapy doses and inter-state transfers; wondering if your dealer is going to be working on Christmas Day; sorting out injecting equipment when NSP hours change over Christmas as staff have a well-earned break! ...But for many of us, there is no break from being a user. And the holiday period brings additional health issues for users, particularly overdose prevention and bloodborne virus awareness.

At NUAA’s recent Peers and Consumers Forum, NUAA’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Charles Henderson gave the keynote address: Driving innovation: the role of NUAA in drug user health in NSW. This is a taste of his awesome presentation.

Peers On Wheels (POW) is a new pilot project NUAA has launched. The project delivers mobile peer-led testing and treatment services for hepatitis C (hep C). POW is friendly, confidential, quick and easy. POW is visiting a bunch of places in NSW over the coming months. To help spread the word to peers, we interviewed MJ, the project’s Coordinator. 

Legal and safety issues around drugs and sex work.

Katrina is a peer distributor for NUAA in a small rural town in NSW. She’s known she’s had hep C for 6 years but has found it hard to get treated because of the lack of services in her area and past experiences of stigma within a health care setting.