World Hepatitis Day

Dr Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge, WHO South-East Asia

Viral hepatitis caused 1.3 million deaths worldwide in 2024, making it one of the world's leading infectious disease killers. In the WHO South-East Asia Region, an estimated 43 million people are living with hepatitis B and 8 million with hepatitis C, and more than 200,000 people lose their lives each year to hepatitis-related causes, mainly liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. These deaths are preventable through earlier diagnosis, treatment and sustained care.

This year, World Hepatitis Day, being marked globally under the theme "Hepatitis: Let's Break It Down," is being carried forward in the Region under the theme "Eliminating Hepatitis Everywhere, for Everyone - Right Now." Together, they call on us to dismantle barriers that stand between people and the tools that already exist to prevent, diagnose and treat hepatitis.

The Region has made much progress. In 2024, hepatitis B third-dose vaccination coverage reached 92%. Maldives, in 2025, became the first country in the world to be validated for triple elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B, while Thailand and Sri Lanka have been validated for dual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. Thailand has embedded hepatitis within its universal health coverage architecture, and India is scaling nationwide elimination of vertical transmission of HIV and syphilis alongside marked improvements in hepatitis B vaccination and antenatal screening. Bangladesh has expanded hepatitis services for vulnerable populations, including in the complex humanitarian setting of Cox's Bazar.

These gains have been enabled by a wider architecture, including the Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections (2022-2030), and the Region's Integrated Regional Action Plan for Viral Hepatitis, HIV and STIs (2022-2026). Both call for elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, to be achieved by integrating hepatitis services into primary health care and universal health coverage.

Nonetheless, gaps remain. In the region, hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination coverage sits at 58%, and treatment coverage is critically low, at just 0.1% for hepatitis B and 11% for hepatitis C. Only 1 in 10 people living with chronic hepatitis B and C were tested and aware of their status. Unsafe medical injections are estimated to account for 21% of new hepatitis C infections, a reminder of the importance of safe injection practices and strengthening harm reduction services among people who inject drugs.

Countries must expand decentralised, affordable testing and treatment integrated into primary care. Every newborn should receive a timely hepatitis B birth dose within 24 hours, and antenatal care should routinely include hepatitis B testing. As global financing tightens, countries must also strengthen country-owned investment cases to mobilise domestic resources. Above all, people affected by hepatitis must shape the policies and services meant to serve them, and communities must be equipped to challenge the stigma that keeps people from accessing earlier prevention, testing and treatment services.

Three and a half years remain for the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 targets. The proven science of detection, diagnosis and treatment must be matched with political commitment and investment. On World Hepatitis Day, let commit to break down the barriers of stigma, inequity and fragmentation, to achieve hepatitis elimination for everyone, everywhere, right now-not as aspiration, but as obligation.