Development of an evidence-based hepatitis C education program to enhance public health literacy in the Australian prison sector: The Hepatitis in Prisons Education program (HepPEd).

Background: Australia's prisons have a high chronic hepatitis C (HCV) prevalence (8 %). Antiviral therapies and prison-based hepatitis services are available, but only a minority of those eligible are being treated. Improving the HCV public health literacy of the prison sector via targeted education may overcome key barriers to scale-up treatment.