Every so often, a medical breakthrough reshapes the health landscape and offers new hope.

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The cure for hepatitis C is one such medical breakthrough - as significant as the discovery of penicillin.

It has saved millions around the world from developing severe liver disease and liver cancer by curing their hepatitis C.

It is the first ever drug to cure a virus and completely cure a chronic disease, and has been declared an "essential medicine" by the World Health Organisation.

It forms the backbone of treatments offered to people living with hepatitis C in Australia today - a painless cure of one tablet per day for up to 12 weeks.

It's a simple molecule that blocks the virus from replicating and is very effective, has minimal side effects, and is vastly superior to previous treatments like interferon.

Since it became available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2016, 62.9 per cent of all people living in Australia with hepatitis C have received the cure.

Yet despite this, about 70,000 Australians still live with hepatitis C.

Why, in a country with universal health care and a commitment to disease elimination, are so many people still being left behind?

New analysis done by Hepatitis Australia shows that 84 per cent of people now living with hepatitis C no longer inject drugs or contracted the virus in other ways: through blood transfusions before blood screening was introduced in 1990; unsafe tattooing; or medical and dental procedures overseas in countries with less rigorous infection........

© Canberra Times