Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
Letters

Well-placed advocacy

Bonnie R. Larson
CMAJ October 18, 2016 188 (15) 1106; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1150123
Bonnie R. Larson
Calgary Urban Project Society, Calgary, Alta.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Tyndall has provided a thoughtful commentary on hepatitis C treatment and is duly respectful of nonmedical determinants of health, which are heavy influences on hepatitis C epidemiology.1 As a physician providing frontline care for patients with this disease, I caution against presuming scarcity and approaching this problem with a treatment-or-prevention paradigm. We’ve applied this paradigm in the past with HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis, only to find that treatment is actually a very good weapon in the prevention arsenal.

Although Tyndall does advocate for resources to be spent “upstream” at the level of prevention and addiction treatment, he does not recognize that finding a way to treat all cases of hepatitis C would be part of a complete prevention and harm reduction strategy. We must avoid the trap of assuming that we are slaves to limited resources, and instead continually seek innovative ways to provide our patients with the standard of care. As a service provider to Canada’s most vulnerable people, who are already at an increased risk of suffering (poor, homeless, indigenous, women and children suffering from abuse, mentally ill), I am compelled to find ways to provide even better care than the standard to my patients.

Yes, the new hepatitis C treatment regimens are expensive. Does that mean we should ration those treatments based on cost, or fight hard for a fairer price and good access for all? I am going to place my advocacy where it belongs: with the latter.

Reference

  1. ↵
    1. Tyndall M
    . Misplaced advocacy: What does better hepatitis C treatment really mean? CMAJ 2015;187:1111–2.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 188 (15)
CMAJ
Vol. 188, Issue 15
18 Oct 2016
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Well-placed advocacy
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Well-placed advocacy
Bonnie R. Larson
CMAJ Oct 2016, 188 (15) 1106; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.1150123

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Well-placed advocacy
Bonnie R. Larson
CMAJ Oct 2016, 188 (15) 1106; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.1150123
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Reference
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Misplaced advocacy: What does better hepatitis C treatment really mean?
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Moving surgical care out of hospitals to reduce wait times
  • Coexisting failures do not diminish the stature of a giant
  • Dare we hope
Show more Letters

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions

Copyright 2021, Joule Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

Powered by HighWire