World Hepatitis Day, observed on 28 July, raises awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes severe liver disease and cancer.
This year’s theme is: It’s time for action. With a person dying every 30 seconds from a hepatitis-related illness, we must accelerate action on better prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to save lives and improve health outcomes.
There are 5 main strains of the hepatitis virus – A, B, C, D, and E. Together, hepatitis B and C are the most common infections and result in 1.3 million deaths and 2.2 million new infections per year.
Despite better tools for diagnosis and treatment, and decreasing product prices, testing and treatment coverage rates have stalled. But, reaching the WHO elimination goal by 2030 should still be achievable, if swift action is taken now.
Check back soon for the latest campaign materials, resources, and information on how you can get involved. Together, we can make hepatitis elimination a reality.
Key messages
1. A liver performs over 500 vital functions every single day to keep us alive, that’s why testing, treating and preventing viral hepatitis is so important.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. It’s usually caused by a viral infection or non-infectious agents (such as drugs, toxins, alcohol).
There are 5 main strains of the hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D, and E. While they all cause liver disease, they differ in important ways including modes of transmission, severity of illness, geographical distribution, and how they can be prevented.
Types B and C hepatitis lead to chronic disease and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, loss of liver function, liver cancer and viral-hepatitis related deaths.
2. Deaths from viral hepatitis-related causes are increasing.
Combined, hepatitis B and hepatitis C caused 1.3 million deaths in 2022.
Around 304 million people are living with a chronic viral hepatitis infection.
3 500 people die from hepatitis B and C infections every day. That’s around one hepatitis death every 30 seconds.
Over 6 000 people are newly infected with viral hepatitis each day.
3. Globally, there’s a huge number of undiagnosed and untreated people living with hepatitis.
Nearly 220 million with hepatitis B are undiagnosed, while nearly 36 million people with hepatitis C are undiagnosed.
Most symptoms only appear once the disease is advanced, with most people discovering they have hepatitis B or C only when they develop serious liver disease or cancer.
Even after diagnosis, the coverage of treatment and care for people living with hepatitis is astonishingly low.
Of the 304 million people with hepatitis B and C, only 7 million are treated for hepatitis B and 12.5 million cured of hepatitis C.
4. So many hepatitis infections – and deaths – can be prevented.
To eliminate hepatitis and achieve the WHO’s ambitious targets by 2030, simplified care services for viral hepatitis should ensure that:
- all pregnant women living with chronic hepatitis B have access to treatment and their infants have access to hepatitis B birth vaccines to prevent infection;
- 90% of people living with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C are diagnosed; and
- 80% of diagnosed people are cured of hepatitis C or treated according to newer hepatitis B expanded eligibility criteria.
But while we have the guidance and tools to diagnose, treat, and prevent chronic viral hepatitis, these services are still too often out of reach of communities and are sometimes only available at centralized or specialized hospitals.
- Rapid diagnostic tests for viral hepatitis cost less than US$ 2, but many people still face out of pocket costs for testing.
- There is now the option for hepatitis C self-testing and a WHO prequalified test to encourage testing in the face of stigma and discrimination.
- While a timely dose of the hepatitis B vaccine can prevent babies from developing liver cancer later in life, only 45% of babies received the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth in 2022.
- Despite the availability of affordable generic viral hepatitis medicines, too many countries are still overpaying for them. For example, medicines used to treat hepatitis C (generic sofosbuvir and daclatasvir) costs US$ 60 for a 12-week course, but countries are paying anywhere between US$ 33to up to US$ 10 000.
It’s time to take action to realize a hepatitis‑free world.
Now is the time to prioritize testing, treatment and vaccination to realize a hepatitis-free world and meet our 2030 targets. Key actions include:
- expanding access to testing and diagnostics to ensure more people can access the treatment they need;
- strengthening primary care prevention efforts to prevent hepatitis through vaccination, safe infection and injections practices and education;
- decentralizing hepatitis care to bring care closer to patients by utilizing community-based services;
- integrating hepatitis care within existing health services, combining hepatitis treatment with primary care, HIV services, and harm reduction programs where relevant to offer more accessible and comprehensive care;
- engaging affected communities and civil society, ensuring that the insights and experiences of people affected by viral hepatitis are at the heart of prevention and treatment efforts; and
- mobilizing domestic or innovative financing to secure new funding avenues to support and sustain hepatitis elimination programs.
Credit: WHO