Efforts to eliminate hepatitis deliver gains, but more action needed to meet 2030 targets

The World Health Organization says global efforts to eliminate hepatitis are delivering measurable gains, but not fast enough to meet the 2030 targets.

In its Global hepatitis report 2026, released on April 28, WHO said annual new hepatitis B infections have fallen 32% globally since 2015, while hepatitis C-related deaths are down 12%. The report also says hepatitis B prevalence among children under five has dropped to 0.6%.

WHO said 85 countries have already met or surpassed the 2030 target for reducing hepatitis B childhood prevalence to 0.1%. Even so, the agency warned that the world is still off track overall and that faster action is needed on prevention, testing and treatment.

The report says 1.34 million people died from hepatitis B and C in 2024, and 287 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B or C infection that year. WHO is urging countries to scale up vaccination, diagnosis and treatment if they want to stay on course for elimination.

The message is mixed: the tools are working where they are being used, but coverage remains uneven and the global response is not yet moving quickly enough to end hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.