VIRAL HEPATITIS remained a major global health challenge in 2024, with the number of HBV-related deaths having increased despite progress in preventing new infections and treating hepatitis C, according to the 2026 WHO Global Hepatitis Report. Viral hepatitis, primarily caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), can lead to chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The report provided the first assessment of progress towards the WHO’s 2030 viral hepatitis elimination targets, drawing on data from 140 Member States and country-calibrated modelled estimates covering 2015 to 2024. It found that the principal barrier to eliminating viral hepatitis was the inadequate implementation of highly effective prevention and treatment interventions, despite the availability of vaccines and antiviral therapies.
An estimated 240 million people were living with chronic HBV infection and 47 million with viraemic HCV infection in 2024. HBV remained concentrated in the WHO African, South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions, whereas HCV affected populations across all six WHO regions, highlighting the need for region-specific approaches.
The estimated annual number of people acquiring chronic HBV infection fell by 32% between 2015 and 2024, largely reflecting expanded childhood immunisation. Global infant hepatitis B vaccination coverage reached 84% in 2024, while the estimated prevalence of HBV infection among children younger than five years declined from 0.8% to 0.6%.
However, progress varied considerably. The WHO African Region accounted for approximately 68% of new HBV infections globally in 2024. Timely birth-dose vaccination coverage reached only 17%, compared with a global average of 45%, and third-dose infant vaccination coverage was 76%. The region also had the highest prevalence of chronic HBV infection among children younger than five years, estimated at 1.4%.
The report identified HBV-related mortality as a major obstacle to achieving elimination. In 2024, an estimated 1.3 million deaths were linked to HBV and HCV, primarily due to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, including around 1.1 million HBV-related deaths. This represented a 17% increase in the number of HBV-related deaths compared with 2015.
Among the estimated 240 million people living with chronic HBV infection worldwide, only 65 million (27%) had been diagnosed and just 10 million (4.3%) were receiving antiviral treatment. The findings suggested that vaccination alone would be insufficient to reduce the burden of HBV-related liver disease without substantial expansion of testing, linkage to care and long-term antiviral treatment.
HCV showed greater progress. HCV-related deaths fell by 12% between 2015 and 2024, while 24 million people were diagnosed with viraemic infection and 13 million received direct-acting antiviral therapy. However, prevention lagged behind. New HCV infections declined by only 8.1% during the same period, with transmission continuing through unsafe medical and non-medical injections, inadequate blood safety and the sharing of injecting equipment among people who inject drugs, who accounted for nearly half of new infections worldwide. The report identified stronger infection prevention and control, harm-reduction services, opioid agonist treatment, prison health programmes and community-led outreach as priorities for reducing new HCV infections.
The report concluded that eliminating viral hepatitis would require countries to move beyond fragmented programmes and integrate prevention, testing and treatment into primary healthcare and existing services for HIV, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, and non-communicable diseases. It also concluded that existing interventions, such as vaccination, antiviral therapy and harm-reduction programmes, must be delivered more consistently to populations with the greatest unmet need if the WHO’s 2030 elimination targets are to remain achievable.
Reference
Lesi O et al. WHO global hepatitis report 2026: guiding global action for elimination. The Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2026;DOI:10.1016/S2468-1253(26)00220-7.
Featured image: topten22photo on Adobe Stock
Each article is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License.
