Importance of hepatitis elimination and hepatitis B vaccination

Remarks of WHO Regional Director for Africa at the High-level Global Talk Show: Towards a “Hepatitis-free future”

Your Excellency, First Lady of Burkina Faso, Mrs Sika Kaboré,

You Excellency, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mrs Amira El Fadil,

Honourable Minister of health of Nigeria, Dr Osagie Ehanire,

Honourable Minister of Health and Social Services of Namibia, Dr Kalumbi Shangula,

Dear partners and colleagues,

Good afternoon:

It is my pleasure to speak with you at this important event, which reminds us all that even as global attention focuses on COVID-19, the threat of viral hepatitis is still a pressing public health issue, and one for which we have vaccines and treatments available.

I would like to commend the leadership of the First Lady of Burkina Faso for bringing international attention to hepatitis, and to appreciate the Organization of African First Ladies for their advocacy for hepatitis B elimination alongside their flagship work on preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

I commend also the initiative of His Excellency, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to treat one million Africans for hepatitis C and the African Union declaration on viral hepatitis endorsed earlier this year.

For too long, hepatitis spread silently, as a neglected threat to public health.

Over 71 million people in Africa are living with chronic viral hepatitis – more than double the number living with HIV – but millions of people remain unaware of this condition – people at every level, both the people themselves and also the leadership of Africa, need to take action to prevent this problem. We are so glad that finally this has been recognized at the level of the African Union.

Every day 300 people in Africa sadly lose their lives from liver cancer related to hepatitis, even though there is a low-cost vaccine available for hepatitis B, and there are treatments that can cure most cases of hepatitis C in 12 weeks.

The burden of this virus and the availability of proven interventions to defeat it, demand that all of us do more. Individuals need to know more, Governments and decision-makers need to prioritize more, and the global health community needs to take greater leadership and provide better support on this issue.

The most vulnerable time for hepatitis B transmission is in the first month of life and this risk can be prevented with vaccination in the first 24 hours of life. However, currently, only 13 African countries[1] have introduced hepatitis B birth-dose and the regional coverage of the vaccine is at only 6%.

It is clear that to reach the target of eliminating hepatitis epidemics by 2030, we need to do things differently and I do think that this is possible, even in countries where resources are limited.

Every opportunity can and should be taken to do better on birth-dose immunization, and this requires a people-centred approach. Interventions should be integrated to deliver the essential services that every mother and every newborn needs to be healthy and thrive. This will require investment in health and different ways of working on strengthening health systems, and different ways of integrating programmes.

Achieving at least 90% coverage of hepatitis B birth-dose would contribute to preventing more than 1.2 million liver cancer deaths in low-and-middle-income countries by 2035.

To efficiently and effectively accelerate action on hepatitis, stakeholders should take advantage of other programmes, by leveraging the infrastructure and broadening the skills of experts on HIV for example, and other diseases.

At today’s event we are launching new recommendations for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B, towards elimination and ensuring a hepatitis free future for all. The new recommendations for hepatitis-B testing for pregnant women and prophylactic treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission, will save lives, and improve well-being for women and their infants.

In closing, the COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the central importance of ensuring everyone, everywhere has access essential services, without financial hardship. This is something we should build on going forward to achieve the over-arching goal of Universal Health Coverage.

With political commitment from governments, strong partnerships backed by financing, innovative ways of delivering services and with informed and empowered communities, we can achieve strong health systems and a hepatitis free future for Africa and the world.

Thank you very much.