WHO: Hepatitis Progress Slow for 2030 Goals

A new World Health Organization report released on April 28, 2026, at the World Hepatitis Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, shows global efforts against viral hepatitis B and C have reduced new infections and deaths since 2015, but progress remains too slow to meet 2030 elimination targets.

The report documents 1.34 million deaths from the two strains, which account for 95 percent of hepatitis-related fatalities worldwide, in 2024 alone. New infections continued at more than 4,900 per day, totaling 1.8 million annually, with 287 million people living with chronic hepatitis B or C that year. Hepatitis B caused 1.1 million deaths and 0.9 million new infections, 68 percent of which occurred in the WHO African Region, where only 17 percent of newborns received the birth-dose vaccine. Hepatitis C led to 240,000 deaths and another 0.9 million infections, 44 percent among people who inject drugs.

Since 2015, annual new hepatitis B infections have fallen 32 percent globally, hepatitis C deaths have declined 12 percent, and prevalence among children under five has dropped to 0.6 percent, with 85 countries meeting or exceeding the 2030 goal of 0.1 percent. These gains stem from coordinated...