Hepatitis B Foundation calls for urgent investment to save lives
Governments must immediately fund hepatitis B elimination efforts; every dollar delayed leads to lives that could have been saved.
Doylestown, Pa., May 4, 2026 – The World Health Organization Global Hepatitis Report 2026, published on April 28, makes one thing clear: the world is still failing people living with viral hepatitis, the most common being hepatitis B.
Despite having the tools necessary to save lives – an effective vaccine, reliable diagnostics and viral suppressing treatment – WHO warns that current rates of progress are insufficient and that the world is not on track to eliminate hepatitis B without a rapid scale-up of testing, treatment and prevention efforts.
The new report shows that hepatitis B continues to exact a heavy toll, with 2024 data showing 240 million people living with chronic hepatitis B worldwide, 900,000 new infections and only 27% diagnosed and 4.3% on treatment. And there continue to be significant disparities and gaps in services by region.
Of particular concern is the global increase in hepatitis B related mortality between 2015 and 2024, including 26% more people dying from hepatitis B in Africa and South-East Asia, and 10% more people dying in the Americas. According to the WHO, hepatitis B-related deaths reached 1.1 million in 2024, an increase of 17% since 2015. The new number is almost double the total deaths caused by HIV and is comparable to those caused by TB.
“Every year of delay means more preventable infections, more missed diagnoses and more families losing loved ones to a disease we can prevent and treat,” said Chari A. Cohen, DrPH, MPH, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation. “This report is a wake-up call: governments must stop treating hepatitis B as an afterthought and start funding the response at the scale the crisis demands.”
The report underscores the long-term lack of political will and necessary funding towards implementation of elimination efforts. WHO’s assessment highlights the need to accelerate hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination, expand access to testing and treatment, and strengthen country-level efforts to reduce deaths from liver disease and liver cancer.
The Hepatitis B Foundation urges governments and multilateral institutions to act immediately by committing to new, sustained funding for hepatitis B elimination. That investment must support universal vaccination, maternal and child health interventions, expanded screening, linkage to care, affordable treatment and community-led outreach to reach the people most often left behind.
About hepatitis B: The most common serious liver infection in the world, hepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus, which attacks and damages the liver. Nearly 300 million people are infected with hepatitis B worldwide (almost 2.4 million in the U.S.) and each year more than 1 million people die from the disease, even though it is preventable and treatable. Hepatitis B is a “silent epidemic” because most people do not have symptoms when they are newly or chronically infected. That means they can unknowingly infect others and continue the spread of hepatitis B. For people who are chronically infected but don’t have any symptoms, their livers are still being silently damaged, which can develop into serious liver diseases such as cirrhosis or liver cancer.
About the Hepatitis B Foundation: As the world’s leading hepatitis B advocacy and research organization, the Hepatitis B Foundation is one of the most active proponents of improving hepatitis B screening, prevention and treatment of the disease. We are the only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to finding a cure for hepatitis B and improving the quality of life for those affected worldwide through research, education and patient advocacy. Founded in 1991, the Hepatitis B Foundation is based in Doylestown, Pa., with staff in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. To learn more, go to www.hepb.org, read our blog, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@hepbfoundation) or contact us through info@hepb.org or 215-489-4900.