The story

Europe has made steady progress in preventing hepatitis B and C, with prevalence of hepatitis B now at near-zero levels among children below five years old, according to new data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control released on World Hepatitis Day. Routine screening for hepatitis B in pregnancy is now established across all 30 European Union and European Economic Area countries, helping bring mother-to-child transmission below 2%. Acute hepatitis B infections have declined since 2006, with the proportion of cases among people younger than 25 falling from 11% in 2015 to 8% in 2024.

Despite these gains, the region is set to miss the 2030 target to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat due to uneven implementation of key measures. ECDC estimates around five million people in the EU and EEA live with chronic hepatitis B or C, and nearly 60,000 hepatitis-related deaths occur annually. Only nine of 25 EU and EEA countries meet the WHO hepatitis B vaccination goal of 95% coverage in children. For hepatitis C, only seven countries meet WHO targets for distribution of sterile injection equipment to reduce transmission among people who inject drugs.

Globally, an estimated 240 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B, which can increase the risk of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. A global survey commissioned by GSK among 5,000 adults across five countries found that more than eight in 10 adults were either unaware of chronic hepatitis or knew very little about it. Only approximately one in three people surveyed considered chronic hepatitis B to be a high-risk factor for liver cancer, despite it being estimated to cause around half of liver cancer cases globally.