World Hepatitis Day 2024

This years theme for World Hepatitis Day 2024 is: It’s time for action. How can you do that? A lot of this day is about raising awareness. Did you know every 30 seconds a person dies from a hepatitis related illness? I didn’t know that either and that one fact makes me hyper aware that this is a serious situation this has become. It’s time to be aware of prevention, diagnosing and treating hepatitis to help improve the health of the world.

This post may be a bit overwhelming with information, but it is all so important so be sure to bookmark if you would like to come back and get some reminders on days other than July 28th.

There are 5 strains of hepatitis. 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.

Some Facts:

304 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B and C in 2022.

Only 45% of babies received the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth in 2022.

1.3 million people died from chronic hepatitis B & C in 2022.

Important Information:

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.

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.

Prevention:

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$33 to up to US$ 10,000.

To meet the target goals that have been projected for 2030 action definitely has to be taken, but what needs to be done?

• 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.