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The World Health Organisation issued a warning on Tuesday that more than 3,500 people die each day from hepatitis viruses, and they called for immediate action to combat the second-leading infectious cause of death.
A WHO analysis released ahead of the World Hepatitis Summit in Portugal this week revealed that the number of fatalities from viral hepatitis increased to 1.3 million in 2022 from 1.1 million in 2019. The data came from 187 countries.
According to the paper, hepatitis infections cause 3,500 fatalities globally each day, with hepatitis B accounting for 83% of these deaths and hepatitis C for 17%.Meg Doherty, who oversees the World Health Organization's global programmes for HIV, hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections, called these "alarming trends" during a press conference.
For hepatitis C, just 20 percent or 12.5 million people had been treated. Africa accounts for 63 percent of new hep B infections. Two thirds of all cases are in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia and Vietnam, according to the report.
“Universal access to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in these 10 countries by 2025, alongside intensified efforts in the African region, is essential to get the global response back on track,” the WHO said in a statement.
