Emergencies preparedness, response

Hepatitis: frequently asked questions

What is World Hepatitis Day?

At its 2010 meeting, the World Health Assembly resolved that July 28 should be designated as World Hepatitis Day. World Hepatitis Day is an opportunity for education and greater understanding of viral hepatitis as a global public health problem, and to stimulate the strengthening of preventive and control measures of this disease by nations around the world.

Why is it needed?

Hepatitis is one of the most prevalent and serious infectious conditions in the world, but many people - including health policy makers - remain unaware of its staggering toll on global health.

What is hepatitis?




What makes hepatitis a global health problem?


Nearly one out of every three people in the world (approximately 2 billion people) has been infected by HBV, and one in twelve live with chronic HBV or HCV infection. While most people who have been infected with these viruses are unaware of their infection, they face the possibility of developing debilitating or fatal liver disease at some point in their lives and unknowingly transmitting the infection to others.

HBV/HIV and HCV/HIV coinfections are an increasing problem in countries with HIV epidemics and among injecting drug users. For co-infected persons being treated with HIV antiretroviral medicines, underlying viral hepatitis is becoming a major cause of death.

What are the different hepatitis viruses?







Why is it important for people to know if they are infected with a form of viral hepatitis?

Early diagnosis provides the best opportunity for effective medical support. It also allows those infected to take steps to prevent transmission of the disease to others, for example by adopting safe sex practices. It allows lifestyle precautions to be undertaken to protect the liver from additional harm, specifically, by eliminating alcohol and certain drugs which are toxic to the liver.

How can viral hepatitis be prevented?

  • Safe and effective vaccines are widely available for the prevention of HAV and HBV infection.
  • Screening blood used for transfusion can prevent transmission of HBV and HCV.
  • Sterile injection equipment protects against HBV and HCV transmission.
  • Safer sex practices, including minimizing the number of partners and using barrier (condom) protective measures has been shown to protect against HBV and HCV transmission.
  • Harm reduction for injection drug users prevents HBV and HCV transmission.
  • Safe food and water provide the best protections against HAV and HEV.

How is viral hepatitis treated?

Antiviral agents active against HBV exist. Treatment of HBV infection has been shown to reduce the risk of liver cancer and death. It is estimated that 20–30% of persons with HBV infection could benefit from treatment. However, drugs active against HBV are not widely available or utilized in persons infected with HBV. Currently recommended antiviral agents used for treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection do not adequately suppress HBV, which is of great concern for the estimated 10% of the HIV-infected persons in Africa who are co-infected with HBV.

HCV is generally considered to be a curable disease but for many persons this is not a reality. Scientific advances and intense research and development have led to the development of many new oral antiviral drugs for HCV infection. A great number of HCV specific oral drugs are in the late stage of development; some have been recently registered. These are more effective and better tolerated. Much still needs to be done to ensure that these new treatment advances lead to greater access and treatment responses in resource constrained areas of the world.

What is WHO doing to support the fight against viral hepatitis?


WHO is assisting countries in ensuring the safety, availability, and quality of blood and blood products.

Policy guidance and guidelines on best practices are available for all injections including phlebotomy and lancet procedures. They enable countries to establish safe injection and phlebotomy services, train health care workers on best injection and phlebotomy practices and ensure that patients and health workers are safe when receiving or giving an injection or a phlebotomy.

More needs to be done to prevent and control viral hepatitis. We must ensure that those already infected with viral hepatitis have timely access to testing, care and effective treatments to delay development of disease and prevent disability.

WHO is working in the following areas:

  • raising awareness, promoting partnerships and mobilizing resources
  • evidence-based policy and data for action
  • prevention of transmission
  • screening, care and treatment.

To accomplish this mandate, WHO will take a health systems approach, including developing new approaches at WHO and mobilizing much needed resources.

WHO will work in close collaboration with all our partners to prevent and control viral hepatitis.

1 HBV can be transmitted from a family member to infant in early childhood. Most commonly this occurs through an “unapparent infection” where an HBV positive family member or other adult is in frequent contact with an uninfected child. They may cause infection through means that are not obvious (e.g. small cut on hand of the adult to a child with dry skin (eczema) with cracking). What makes these exposures a source of infection is probably not any one exposure but the cumulative nature of being exposed frequently over the course of time.