THE World Health Organization (WHO) has raised fresh concerns as the global death toll from chronic hepatitis climbs to 1.3 million annually, despite the disease being preventable, treatable, and in some cases, curable.
In a short message to mark World Hepatitis Day 2025, observed every July 28, the organisation revealed that more than 304 million people lived with chronic hepatitis infections in 2022.
It described the trend as alarming and called for urgent action to break down the financial, social, and systemic barriers, especially stigma, that continue to hinder access to testing, vaccination, and treatment.
The WHO said the theme for this year’s commemoration, “Hepatitis: Let’s Break It Down,” is a global rallying cry to dismantle the obstacles that make early diagnosis and treatment inaccessible for millions.
The organisation noted that hepatitis was silently spreading across the globe, with about 6,000 new infections daily, most of which remained undetected until irreversible liver damage occurred.
“Chronic viral hepatitis causes 1.3 million deaths every year, mostly from liver cancer and cirrhosis. That’s 3,500 deaths every single day – on par with tuberculosis. Hepatitis B and C are spreading silently, with 6,000 new infections daily. Despite being preventable and treatable, the disease burden continues to rise, especially in regions with limited access to care,” WHO said.
It warned that many of those living with hepatitis did not know they were infected, adding that early diagnosis remained the most effective way to prevent liver cancer and save lives.
The organisation emphasised that if countries acted fast, they could prevent 2.8 million hepatitis-related deaths by 2030 through scaled-up testing, timely vaccination, harm reduction, and expanded access to treatment.
According to the global health body, only 45 per cent of babies globally received the hepatitis B vaccine within the first 24 hours of birth in 2020, the latest data by WHO.
This gap, it noted, continued to put millions of children at risk of lifelong infection.
Hepatitis A, caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), is an inflammation of the liver, which is primarily spread when an uninfected (and unvaccinated) person ingests food or water that is contaminated with the faeces of an infected person.
According to the WHO, the disease is closely associated with unsafe water or food, inadequate sanitation, poor personal hygiene and oral-anal sex.
In Nigeria and other developing countries, limited access to clean water, poor waste disposal, and overcrowded living conditions make the spread of hepatitis A almost inevitable. Despite the availability of effective vaccines, both hepatitis A, B, and C remain under-addressed in many parts of the world.
In 2024, WHO reported that waterborne outbreaks of hepatitis A could erupt explosively, particularly in conflict-affected regions or areas facing humanitarian crises.
While Hepatitis A doesn’t lead to long-term liver damage like Hepatitis B and C, it can still cause a range of symptoms from mild to severe.
Hepatitis B, by contrast, spreads through infected body fluids, blood, or semen and often becomes chronic. It primarily spreads from mother to child during birth, a process known as perinatal transmission. HPB can also be transmitted horizontally, most often when an infected child passes the virus to an uninfected child, particularly within their first five years of life.
In 2022, 254 million people lived with chronic HBV infection, which accounted for 1.1 million deaths, primarily from cirrhosis or liver cancer. The WHO also noted that about 1.2 million new infections were recorded each year.
It said Hepatitis B could be prevented with a safe and effective vaccine, adding that the vaccine should be given soon after birth with boosters a few weeks later.
“Hepatitis B is a major global health problem. The burden of infection is highest in the WHO Western Pacific Region and the WHO African Region, where 97 million and 65 million people, respectively, are chronically infected. Sixty-one million people are infected in the WHO South-East Asia Region, 15 million in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, 11 million in the WHO in the WHO European Region and five million in the WHO Region of the Americas,” WHO wrote.
Hepatitis C, on the other hand, is transmitted almost exclusively through blood-to-blood contact, including unsafe injections and transfusions. Unlike B, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but it is curable with antiviral treatment.
However, most people remain undiagnosed until the infection has caused significant liver damage, making early testing and access to care critical.
“Globally, an estimated 50 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus infection, with about 1.0 million new infections occurring per year.
“WHO estimated that in 2022, approximately 242 000 people died from hepatitis C, mostly from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer),” WHO said.
Hepatitis D (HDV) is a rare but more aggressive form of viral hepatitis that only occurs in people already infected with hepatitis B.
The WHO said there was no specific vaccine for hepatitis D, but it could be prevented through immunisation against hepatitis B.
Meanwhile, Hepatitis E (HEV), like hepatitis A, is spread through contaminated water and food and is more common in regions with poor sanitation.
WHO calls for action
The WHO urged governments to improve newborn vaccination coverage, integrate hepatitis services into maternal and child health programmes, and ensure universal access to care.
The organisation called on governments to scale up decentralised testing and treatment, adopt smart investments, and embed hepatitis care into primary healthcare.
It further appealed to individuals to get tested, vaccinate newborns, share accurate information, and speak out against stigma, adding that policymakers should link hepatitis elimination efforts with cancer prevention campaigns and strengthen accountability through reliable data systems.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M