Dr Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge, WHO South-East Asia
Viral hepatitis caused 1.3 million deaths worldwide in 2024, making it one of the world’s leading infectious disease killers. In the WHO South-East Asia Region, an estimated 43 million people are living with hepatitis B and 8 million with hepatitis C, and more than 200,000 people lose their lives each year to hepatitis-related causes, mainly liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. These deaths are preventable through earlier diagnosis, treatment and sustained care.
This year, World Hepatitis Day, being marked globally under the theme “Hepatitis: Let’s Break It Down,” is being carried forward in the Region under the theme “Eliminating Hepatitis Everywhere, for Everyone — Right Now.” Together, they call on us to dismantle barriers that stand between people and the tools that already exist to prevent, diagnose and treat hepatitis.
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