The number of people dying from viral hepatitis is increasing, according to WHO’s 2024 Global Hepatitis Report (9 April).
The disease is the second leading infectious cause of death globally, with 1.3 million deaths per year in 2022, the same as tuberculosis, up from 1.1 million deaths in 2019. Of these, 83 per cent were caused by hepatitis B and 17 per cent by hepatitis C. It equates to 3500 deaths every day.
The reports paints “a troubling picture”, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says. Despite progress in prevention, deaths are rising because not enough people are being diagnosed and treated, Dr Ghebreyesus says.
Read the report here: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240091672
