Hepatitis viruses kill 3,500 people daily, mortality rising, warns WHO

Geneva: Hepatitis B and C infections claim 3,500 lives a day globally, and the number is increasing, while 6,000 people are newly infected with the disease every day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a report.

"Combined, hepatitis B and C cause 3500 deaths per day, and mortality is increasing. An estimated 254 million people are living with hepatitis B and 50 million people are living with hepatitis C worldwide, and 6,000 people are newly infected with viral hepatitis each day," the WHO's Global Hepatitis Report read.

The number of deaths caused by viral hepatitis grew to 1.3 million in 2022 from 1.1 million in 2019, the report said, citing new data from 187 countries. Hepatitis B caused 83% of these deaths, and hepatitis C accounted for 17%. On the other hand, the estimated number of new hepatitis infections "declined from 2.5 million in 2019 to 2.2 million in 2022."

The Western Pacific region has the biggest number of people living with hepatitis B and C: 103.9 million, followed by 72.5 million in Africa and 70.5 million in Southeast Asia.

The report said that ten countries—Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, and Vietnam—account for nearly two-thirds of the global burden of viral hepatitis B and C.

The WHO pointed to several hurdles on the path to eliminating the disease, including people living undiagnosed, low numbers of people receiving treatment, access barriers, limited funding, and infants not receiving hepatitis shots, all despite medicines being "available at affordable prices."