Geneva: As the world observes World Hepatitis Day today, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified Hepatitis D as carcinogenic to humans, placing it alongside hepatitis B and C as a high-risk cancer-causing infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a stark warning and an urgent appeal to global governments: step up the fight against viral hepatitis or risk rising deaths from liver cancer.
“Every 30 seconds, someone dies from a hepatitis-related liver disease or liver cancer. Yet we have the tools to stop hepatitis,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, underscoring the urgent need to accelerate prevention, testing, and treatment.
Viral hepatitis types A through E account for over 1.3 million deaths annually, with types B, C, and D causing chronic infections that can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, or cancer. Alarmingly, most people living with these viruses remain undiagnosed, and treatment rates are dangerously low.
The new classification of Hepatitis D as a human carcinogen follows research showing that individuals co-infected with both hepatitis B and D face a two- to six-fold higher risk of developing liver cancer than those with hepatitis B alone. Hepatitis D requires the presence of hepatitis B to infect the body, making its management especially complex.
“WHO has issued testing guidelines for hepatitis B and D in 2024, and we are monitoring the progress of new treatments,” said Dr. Meg Doherty, WHO’s incoming Director of Science for Health.
Treatments for hepatitis C can cure the disease within 2–3 months using oral antivirals, and lifelong therapy effectively suppresses hepatitis B. For hepatitis D, however, treatment options are still developing, and WHO stresses that only an integrated scale-up of vaccination, testing, and care services can reverse the tide of liver disease and cancer deaths.
There has been progress, particularly among low- and middle-income countries (LMICs):
- Countries with national hepatitis action plans have more than doubled—from 59 in 2021 to 123 in 2025.
- 129 countries now test pregnant women for hepatitis B, up from 106 last year.
- 147 countries offer hepatitis B birth dose vaccinations, rising from 138 in 2022.
Yet, according to the 2024 Global Hepatitis Report, the world remains far from the WHO’s 2025 targets. By 2022, only 13% of people with hepatitis B and 36% with hepatitis C had been diagnosed. Treatment rates were even worse—a mere 3% for hepatitis B and 20% for hepatitis C, well below the targets of 60% diagnosed and 50% treated.
Integration of hepatitis care remains patchy: only 80 countries have included hepatitis in primary care, 128 in HIV programmes, and just 27 in harm-reduction centres. With donor support declining, WHO is urging countries to boost domestic investments, improve data systems, and combat stigma surrounding hepatitis.
In a bid to catalyse global advocacy, WHO has teamed up with Rotary International and the World Hepatitis Alliance. This year’s campaign, titled “Hepatitis: Let’s break it down,” emphasises confronting the rising liver cancer burden tied to chronic hepatitis and dismantling systemic barriers to care.
If countries act now, the WHO estimates 2.8 million lives can be saved and 9.8 million new infections prevented by 2030.
– global bihari bureau
