World going too slow on eliminating hepatitis — WHO

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Jamaica Observer

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said progress in eliminating hepatitis was too slow, with tools available to eliminate the disease that kills more than one million people annually.The WHO said viral hepatitis B and C — the two infections responsible for 95 per cent of hepatitis-related deaths worldwide — claimed 1.34 million lives in 2024.More than 1.8 million new infections are recorded every year, it said.Progress is too slow and uneven, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.Many people remain undiagnosed and untreated due to stigma, weak health systems and inequitable access to care.While we have the tools to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat, urgent scale-up of prevention, diagnosis and treatment is needed.Hepatitis is a liver inflammation caused by a variety of infectious viruses and non-infectious agents leading to a range of health problems, including severe liver damage and cancer.There are five main strains, with B and C among the main infections disease killers.In its Global Hepatitis Report 2026, the WHO estimates that 287 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B or C infection in 2024.The United Nations (UN) health agency said that of the 240 million people with chronic hepatitis B in 2024, fewer than five per cent were receiving treatment.Only 20 per cent of people with hepatitis C have been treated since 2015.And in Africa — the region with the most severe burden of hepatitis B infection — only 17 per cent of babies received the birth vaccine dose in 2024.Six countries are in the top 10 for deaths related to hepatitis B and C: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam.Every missed diagnosis and untreated infection due to chronic viral hepatitis represents a preventable death, Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO department covering hepatitis, stressed in the statement.The WHO said the tools to do the job were already available.The hepatitis B vaccine protects more than 95 per cent of recipients against acute and chronic infections.Long-term antiviral treatment for hepatitis B can help effectively manage chronic infection and prevent severe liver disease.Hepatitis C short-course curative therapy lasting eight to 12 weeks can cure more than 95 per cent of infections.The WHO said Britain, Egypt, Georgia and Rwanda had shown that hepatitis could be eliminated as a public health problem.Eliminating hepatitis is not a pipedream: it's possible with sustained political commitment, backed by reliable domestic financing, said Tedros.Some gains have been made since 2015: the annual number of new hepatitis B infections has dropped by 32 per cent, while hepatitis C-related deaths have fallen by 12 per cent.