UN health agency set to release 2024 Global Hepatitis Report

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Next week, the World Health Organization (WHO) will release its 2024 Global Hepatitis Report.

It will be the first consolidated report on viral hepatitis epidemiology, service coverage and product access, with improved data for action.

In a statement, the UN health agency said it will release the report on the opening day of the World Hepatitis Summit 2024, which will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on April 9-11. 

With information from 187 countries, the report outlines regional perspectives and actionable steps to scale up interventions, emphasizing the importance of leveraging lessons from the COVID-19 response. 

Viral hepatitis is inflammation of the liver caused by a virus, leading to a range of health problems, some of which are fatal. 

Hundreds of millions of people are living with viral hepatitis and over a million lose their lives every year because of conditions related to acute hepatitis and chronic infection that cause liver cancer and cirrhosis. 

According to the WHO, despite there being a vaccine and effective treatment for hepatitis B and a cure for hepatitis C, only a few countries in the world are on track to achieve the WHO target of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030.

At next week's summit in Lisbon, global experts and ministry of health programme managers will discuss the latest advances in hepatitis prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

They are also expected to share updates on innovative approaches to increase viral hepatitis services and address stigma and discrimination, with an aim for viral hepatitis elimination by 2030.

As part of the programme, the World Hepatitis Alliance and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control will present a first-of-its-kind report examining levels of stigma and discrimination surrounding people living with hepatitis in Europe.

Eliminating the stigma surrounding hepatitis through the introduction of policies and structural changes has been named as a key factor in hepatitis elimination by WHO.