International Trade committee  To answer that question, globally other countries are at a much greater health risk than even Canadians are. I'm going to use a quick case study of hepatitis C. In the Canadian population, 0.8% are hepatitis C positive. People who are chronic carriers need to be treated, because at the 30- to 35-year mark they will most likely go into liver failure or develop liver cancer, which is very difficult to treat or is incurable in many cases To bring that home to the Canadian context, the first-line medication that is currently being used, which came out a year and a half ago, is called Harvoni.

International Trade committee  First off, I'd like to thank the Standing Committee on International Trade for inviting me. My name is Dr. Chetan Mehta. I'm a family and addictions medicine physician who works at Queen West Community Health Centre and for the addictions medicine service at Women's College Hospital.