WHO launches “One life, one liver” campaign on World Hepatitis Day

WHO
Jul 29, 2023

WHO launches “One life, one liver” campaign on World Hepatitis Day


To mark World Hepatitis Day, WHO is calling for scaling up testing and treatment for viral hepatitis, warning that the disease could kill more people than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV combined by 2040, if current infection trends continue. Hepatitis causes liver damage and cancer and kills over a million people annually. Of the 5 types of hepatitis infections, hepatitis B and C cause most of the disease and deaths. Hepatitis C can be cured; however, only 21% of people living with hepatitis C infection are diagnosed and only 13% have received curative treatment. Just 10% of people living with chronic hepatitis B are diagnosed, and only 2% of those infected are receiving the lifesaving medicine.