Time for a treat all approach for hepatitis B
Time for a treat all approach for hepatitis B
The World Hepatitis Alliance welcomes WHO’s new guidelines on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic hepatitis B, which were summarised in a Comment in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
Implementation of the new guidelines will result the number of people living with hepatitis B who can access treatment increasing from 8–15% to 50%—an important step towards achieving elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030 However, if elimination is to be reached, priority must be given to equitable access to treatment for hepatitis B globally, and especially in high-burden regions. New data from WHO estimates that 254 million people are living with hepatitis B worldwide, but only 13% of those have been diagnosed and 2·6% treated.