Hepatitis medicines are cheaper now. Treat to save lives.
8 August 2023 – World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on 28 July. The slogan of this year’s regional campaign was “Hepatitis medicines are cheaper now. Treat to save lives”.
In WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, countries/territories have been making slow progress towards testing and treatment targets to eliminate hepatitis as a public health problem by 2030. In 2021, 18 million people were estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis B, 14% of whom were diagnosed and 2% received treatment. In the same year, 12 million people were estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis C, of whom 37% were diagnosed and 34% were treated. Large-scale testing and treatment for hepatitis C in Egypt under the presidential national campaign “One hundred million seha”, accounts for most of the regional progress on hepatitis C virus treatment. Every year, around 61 000 people die due to untreated hepatitis B and C infections in the Region.
In many countries, prices for diagnostics and treatment have been the main barrier to scaling up hepatitis B and C testing and treatment. However, this year, a major global announcement constitutes a turning point for access to hepatitis B and C medicines. In May 2023, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and The Hepatitis Fund (THF) announced 2 new memoranda of understanding with leading generic manufacturers to lower the price of WHO-prequalified hepatitis B and C drugs in low- and middle-income countries. As a result, these countries
