A new report published by the World Health Organization suggests that most of the estimated 325 million people who suffer from chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C lack access to life-saving treatment and testing. The patients are at great risk of developing cancer or chronic liver disease, or even dying.
According to the WHO's 2017 Global Hepatitis Report, no more than 9 percent of patients infected with the hepatitis B virus and 20 percent of those infected with the hepatitis C virus were diagnosed in 2015. Very few of the individuals who were diagnosed followed curative treatment during that year.
Hepatitis is now responsible for more deaths than HIV, and it kills approximately the same number of people as tuberculosis. The report, released on April 21, shows that approximately 1.34 million people died because of viral hepatitis in 2015.
Vast Majority Of Hepatitis Patients Lack Access To Treatment
Authorities are worried about the results of the report, mainly because viral hepatitis is preventable and treatable.
Although the number of deaths caused by viral hepatitis is increasing, the report mentions that new infections are declining, mainly because of newborn vaccinations against hepatitis B.
"In 2015, global coverage with the three doses of hepatitis B vaccine in infancy reached 84 percent. This has substantially reduced HBV transmission in the first five years of life, as reflected by the reduction in HBV prevalence among children to 1.3 percent," notes the WHO report.
In some countries this percentage was even higher. China, for instance, has successfully provided vaccination for 96 percent of newborns. While this may sound like good news, the coverage with the initial birth dose vaccination is still low at 39 percent.javascript:;
Other prevention methods aside from vaccine are available. However, they seem to be insufficiently implemented across the globe.
The hepatitis C virus is transmitted mostly through injection drug use. Approximately 5 percent of the health care-related injections are unsafe, as a result of which approximately 1.75 million cases of HCV infections occurred in 2015. During the same year, only 8 percent of those diagnosed with HBV infection followed treatment, while 7.4 percent of those living with HCV started treatment.
Cumulatively, 5.5 million people had access to HCV treatment in 2015. Despite this apparently high number, no more than half a million of these patients had access to direct-acting antivirals, the better tolerated and more effective drugs.
This is all the more concerning as the number of new infections outnumbered patients who began treatment in 2015.
Agenda For Sustainable Development, A World Without Hepatitis
One of the purposes of the report was to provide data that can guide countries on the road to eliminating viral hepatitis. One of the pillars of this attempt is a strategic information system that would allow the authorities to have access to the data needed to formulate and implement policies for hepatitis elimination.
Additionally, the report suggests broader testing and treatment and better delivery of hepatitis services through public health programs worldwide. Testing would involve all kinds of prevention methods, including trials for new vaccines that have to be developed in order for this program to be easily scaled on a worldwide level.
While these measures are costly, the report underlines that the eradication of hepatitis is on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
