World Hepatitis Day

  On Monday July 28th, 2025 from 13:30 to 15:00 CEST will be held a webinar to mark the World Hepatitis Day 2025 in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Rotary International and the World Hepatitis Alliance. Join the Global leaders, policymakers, and health champions for a virtual event focused on Breaking down barriers to viral hepatitis elimination and liver cancer preventions . Featuring speakers from WHO, the Rotary International and the World Hepatitis Alliance, global partners, Ministers of Health and country representatives from China, Thailand, Brazil, Rwanda, among others. Registration, Agenda and more details are available. Register to participate!

  This World Hepatitis Day, let’s break down the barriers holding us back from a hepatitis-free world . The World Hepatitis Alliance, our partners, allies, and our 400 members in 120 countries are calling for action to end this entirely preventable disease. Our goals: That everyone has the knowledge and understanding they need to make informed choices about hepatitis testing, treatment and vaccination. For decision makers to become advocates, providing the resources needed to improve the lives of affected communities. An end to the stigma for people living with hepatitis, ensuring no one is left behind. That everyone sees that hepatitis elimination is not only possible but achievable – if we all work together to make it happen.

The World Hepatitis Day 2025 theme Let’s Break It Down calls for urgent action to dismantle the financial, social and systemic barriers – including stigma – that stand in the way of hepatitis elimination and liver cancer prevention. Chronic hepatitis B and C silently cause liver damage and cancer – despite them being preventable, treatable, and, in the case of hepatitis C, curable. The theme emphasizes the need to simplify, scale up, and integrate hepatitis services – vaccination, safe injection practices, harm reduction and especially testing and treatment – into national health systems. The campaign is a reminder that we must act now to expand access, integrate care, and end hepatitis as a public health problem by 2030.

Success for hepatitis B elimination is furthest along among children through vaccination. Patient safety from hepatitis C has greatly improved. Model programmes demonstrate that with national commitments, countries can scale up vaccination, injection safety, harm reduction, testing and care to reach elimination goals . The Budi Lukmanto Foundation, a grass-roots, non-profit organization, conducting hepatitis B screening for children at Vincentius Putra Orphanage in Jakarta, Indonesia.  This World Hepatitis Day , let us celebrate these successes. Let us reaffirm our global commitment to ending hepatitis as a public health threat . We have effective vaccines, reliable tests and curative treatments. What is needed now is political will, investment and solidarity . By embedding hepatitis elimination into national health plans , by  keeping commitments to United Nations goals and by working together , we can achieve a future free of hepatitis. Today and every day, let’s break down...

Partnerships among government officials, industry, civil society, health systems and multilateral institutions bring together expertise and financial resources needed to overcome remaining barriers . At the United Nations, Egypt spearheaded the launch in 2022 of the UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis , now co-chaired by the United Nations missions of Brazil, Malaysia, Pakistan and Uganda. At R. G. Kar Hospital in Kolkata, India, a nurse administers a hepatitis B vaccine as part of a state-led program offering free hepatitis services.  The Group provides a forum for Member States to exchange information on progress and innovations. Through collective influence , the Group convenes events and develops resolutions that accelerate progress towards WHO goals. Currently, the Group is advocating for the inclusion of hepatitis elimination in the high-level political declaration on non-communicable diseases, to be adopted during the eightieth session of the United Nations General As...

Effective, low-cost antiviral medications can treat hepatitis B, cutting liver cancer risk in half. However, of the estimated 254 million people with hepatitis B, only 13% are diagnosed and a scant number receive treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently simplified treatment criteria, increasing eligibility for treatment by non-liver specialists. To improve the health of people with hepatitis B in low- and middle-income countries , the recently launched Center for Operational Research on Hepatitis B is seeking to develop pathways of simplified care and integrated service delivery.

A To reach global elimination goals , more countries must scale up hepatitis C testing and care. Globally, only about one in three people living with hepatitis C are diagnosed and fewer still receive treatment. This gap is compounded by lack of awareness of the hepatitis C burden ; limited integration of HCV testing and treatment into national health systems ; and inequities in hepatitis C care for rural communities , those who are incarcerated and persons who inject drugs. To address these gaps, countries with model programmes can share simplified testing and treatment strategies with others . People with lived experience can serve as patient navigators and as ambassadors building trusted community relationships . Fortunately, the global movement is not idle. Countries from Brazil to Japan to Thailand have programmes underway to eliminate hepatitis C.

The treatments for hepatitis C are miracles of modern medicine – the first drugs to cure a chronic viral infection. Taken as pills for two to three months, these medications cure over 95 per cent of people with hepatitis C. Medication costs have fallen globally to a $60 treatment course available through the Global Fund . No longer should anyone die of hepatitis C. At the Bathurst Correctional Centre in New South Wales, Australia, a nurse conducts point-of-care hepatitis C testing, bringing vital healthcare to an often-overlooked population.  Pioneer countries committed early to hepatitis C elimination . Most notably, Egypt launched large-scale screening to diagnose approximately 90 per cent of people with hepatitis C, and cure over 90 per cent of their infections. Consequently, hepatitis C prevalence decreased from 10 per cent to 0.4 per cent, and Egypt was the first country awarded the WHO Gold Tier for progress towards hepatitis C elimination . Georgia, Rwanda and Spain a...

Globally, about 50 per cent of persons who inject drugs have been infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Prevention requires access to harm-reduction services, i.e., sterile needles, opioid substitution therapy and testing and treatment for hepatitis C. Yet only a few countries (e.g., Australia, Canada) provide adequate harm-reduction services , underscoring the need for greater investment and political will to protect populations most vulnerable to hepatitis C.

Both hepatitis B and C are blood-borne viruses. Unsafe medical practices, especially the reuse of syringes, pose a major risk of transmission. Global efforts to promote safe injection practices have changed behaviours: today, 95 per cent of medical injections worldwide are given with sterile equipment. However, unsafe medical injections still pose risks, particularly in South Asia and other regions where injectable medicines are often preferred.

Newborns infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) during birth have a 90 per cent risk of lifelong infection and risk of death from liver cancer. To protect newborns, vaccination must begin quickly, preferably within 24 hours of birth. Maternal hepatitis B screening to detect and treat infected mothers provides extra protection. In the WHO African region, fewer than one in five newborns receive timely hepatitis B vaccination. Today, globally, about two of every three new chronic HBV infections are among the children of Africa. The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination and partners are working to improve vaccine coverage through education and national policy development. Gavi now supports hepatitis B vaccination for newborns. The pay-off in better health is great: vaccinating 90 per cent of newborns in Africa will prevent 500,000 deaths from hepatitis B.

With the assistance of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), the United Nations Children's Fund and other partners, most countries vaccinate infants to prevent hepatitis B. For example, since 1992,  China  raised infant vaccination coverage to over 90 per cent, preventing  40 million  new infections. Globally, since 1990, childhood hepatitis B vaccination has averted over  22 million deaths . Through this collective effort, the world met the 2020  interim global goal  of fewer than 1 in 100 children infected with hepatitis B. Launched in January 2024 in Yobe State, Nigeria, the Roadmap for Women and Youth Development (RAWYOD) project raises awareness about the hepatitis B birth dose and supports its integration into routine immunization through advocacy, stakeholder engagement and efforts to improve vaccine access. Photo credit: RAWYOD, Nigeria

World Hepatitis Day is observed on 28 July each year. Its purpose is to raise awareness to combat hepatitis and achieve the goals of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the elimination of hepatitis B and hepatitis C as global health threats. The 2025 theme, “ Let’s Break It Down” , calls for collective action to break down the remaining barriers to prevention, care and the cure of hepatitis. Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are often hidden infections; they can exist in the body undetected for years until they cause liver failure or liver cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths. As a result, public awareness, political attention and investment remain limited. Yet the numbers demand our urgent attention: worldwide, 305 million people have hepatitis B or hepatitis C, causing 1.3 million deaths per year – exceeding deaths from HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).1 Recognizing this crisis, the United Nations, in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.3 , challenged the world t...

  On Friday; July 25th from 12:30 to 14:00 (GMT+1) will be held a community forum entitled '' Let's break it down." Register to participate!

On Tuesday July 22nd, 2025 from 13:00-14:00 (GMT +1). Join the World Hepatitis Day 2025 webinar entitled " Scaling up Hepatitis birth dos e." Register to participate!  

  On thursday July 17th 2025 from 13:00 to 14:15 (GMT+1). The World Hepatitis Alliance will held a virtual event. Join the World Hepatitis Day 2025 webinar entitled " Breaking down Hepatitis A ", Register to Participate!