What we do
We lead the fight against hepatitis. Throughout our history we have ran awareness raising campaigns, championed civil society and advocated and the highest levels to change the course of hepatitis.
We have put hepatitis on the global health agenda, through advocacy we made World Hepatitis Day an internationally recognised global health day, we had combatting hepatitis included in the Sustainable Development Goals and in United Nations political declaration on Universal Health Coverage and we have championed putting civil society at the heart of the hepatitis response. But we won’t rest until hepatitis is eliminated. We run international campaigns, build the capacity of civil society through events and webinars and deliver programmes that will see the elimination of hepatitis by 2030.
Current programmes
Events and campaigns
Hep Can't Wait
With a person dying every 30 seconds from a hepatitis related illness, we cannot wait for action on hepatitis.
The Hepatitis Can’t Wait campaign brings together all stakeholders to urge policy makers, global funders, the general public and decision makers to act now to make the elimination of hepatitis a reality.
World Hepatitis Day
We co-ordinate the annual World Hepatitis Day campaign on 28 July each year. Every year our campaigns look to raise awareness of viral hepatitis and elevate the voices of the people and communities impacted by viral hepatitis.
World Hepatitis Summit
The World Hepatitis Summit is our flagship event, is the only global hepatitis conference which is focused on public health. It provides an unrivalled opportunity to focus a global audience on the implementation of a viral hepatitis response and so drive progress to make the elimination of viral hepatitis a reality.
WHS pioneers changes within the fight against hepatitis by offering the opportunity to forge relationships between civil society, governments, medical professionals, academics and other stakeholders for the development and implementation of elimination plans and strengthening of the community voice in the viral hepatitis response.
NOhep
NOhep is the global movement for the elimination of hepatitis, formed in 2016 to hold governments accountable to the promise they made to eliminate hepatitis by 2030.
NOhep unites all stakeholders and drives forward elimination by campaigning and highlighting successful hepatitis elimination initiatives.
ADVOCACY
To achieve our vision of a world without viral hepatitis, we know we must advocate for the mobilisation of resources for hepatitis elimination at a global and national level, the removal of barriers to vaccination, testing, treatment and cure and hold governing and funding bodies to account to deliver on commitments they have made. It is a core part of our strategy and underpins much of our wider work.
Our Current Advocacy Priorities
Advocating for mobilization of resources to eliminate viral hepatitis
Demanding the creation of additional resources to eliminate viral hepatitis is crucial, but there is also so much potential in mobilizing existing resources, demanding policy-makers and funders recognise the commitments they have made to deliver patient-centred care and advocating for the inclusion of hepatitis as part of UHC and existing funding frameworks.
Inclusion of hepatitis within PMTCT programmes and delivery of triple
Approximately 9 in 10 infants who are exposed to hepatitis B develop chronic infection. This is completely avoidable – testing for hepatitis B is simple and quick, and a birth dose vaccine can prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and is available for only $0.20 US. And yet more than half of infants worldwide still do not have access to the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine and, in Africa, only about 17% of infants receive a timely birth dose vaccine. Many issues combine to impede progress in this area, including racial inequality, discrimination against women, and gross inequalities of healthcare access.
Hepatitis and NCD
There are currently 350m people living with viral hepatitis, and every 30 seconds someone dies form a viral hepatitis related illness. By 2040 hepatitis will cause more deaths than HIV, TB and Malaria combined. Approximately 25% of infants who are exposed to hepatitis B at birth will die of liver-related complications in life, including liver cancer. Around 65% of all liver cancer cases are related to HBV or HCV.
And yet there is still limited visibility of the hepatitis as an area of policy-making, investment or funding within global or national NCD programmes, despite the fact investment in this area would dramatically impact the numbers of people developing, and dying from, liver cancer.
WHA is determined to change this this, and demanding hepatitis be seen as part of global and national NCD programmes, advocating for change at the policy and funder level, and working to identify and collaborate with organisations and influencers who can help us affect this change.
