WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report shows deaths due to hepatitis increased since 2019
Hepatitis is the second leading infectious cause of death globally after tuberculosis. Photo for representation: iStock
India accounted for a significant 11.6 per cent of the world’s hepatitis cases in 2022, according to 2024 Global Hepatitis Report by the World Health Organization (WHO). This translates to a concerning number of over 35.3 million hepatitis infections in the country, with 29.8 million hepatitis B and 5.5 million hepatitis C cases.
The country ranked second after China, contributing 27.5 per cent of the global total with 83.8 million cases in 2022. The two countries were among the top ten, which also included Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines and the Russian Federation. Together, they accounted for nearly two-thirds of the global burden.
Read more: Hepatitis C: India has failed to tackle the deadly disease
The WHO report documented an increase in the estimated mortality from 1.1 million deaths in 2019 to 1.3 million deaths in 2022, indicating that the number of hepatitis-related cancer cases and deaths are increasing globally.
Hepatitis B caused 83 per cent of these deaths and hepatitis C 17 per cent. Hepatitis is the second leading infectious cause of death globally after tuberculosis.
Half the burden of chronic hepatitis B and C infection is among people 30–54 years old and men account for 58 per cent of all cases, the report noted.
There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E, according to WHO. They all cause liver disease but differ in important ways, including modes of transmission, severity of illness, geographical distribution and prevention methods.
“In particular, hepatitis B and C lead to chronic disease for hundreds of millions of people and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and hepatitis-related deaths,” WHO said.
The report further emphasised that “chronic viral hepatitis can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma, which accounts for 80 per cent of all liver cancer cases and is the third most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide.”
Read more: All about hepatitis
The number of individuals diagnosed with the disease declined from 2.5 million in 2019 to 2.2 million in 2022. Immunisation and safe injections had an effect on bringing the numbers down worldwide. At the same time, about 304 million people were living with viral hepatitis B and C in 2022.
Due to regional variations, the WHO African Region accounts for 63 per cent of new hepatitis B infections. Despite that, only 18 per cent of newborns received the hepatitis B vaccination at birth in the region. Globally, the estimates remain very poor too and only 45 per cent of infants received the vaccination within 24 hours of being born.
“Only 13 per cent of people living with chronic hepatitis B infection had been diagnosed and close to 3 per cent had received antiviral therapy at the end of 2022. Only 36 per cent of people living with hepatitis C had been diagnosed between 2015 and 2022 and 20 per cent had received curative treatment; highlighting the opportunity for better linkages between diagnosis and provision of care,” the report highlighted.
Read more: This is why Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C are dangerous
Injecting drug use and unsafe medical injections leads to hepatitis C transmission. Unsafe medical injections alone added 13.8 per cent of new hepatitis C infections globally. Among the 60 countries studied by the WHO, Pakistan accounts for 44 per cent of all new hepatitis C infections attributed to unsafe medical injections.
Ten countries, including the United States of America, China, the Russian Federation, India, Ukraine, Italy, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Japan and Pakistan, are responsible for 80 percent of hepatitis C infections acquired through injecting drugs, the paper stated.
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