World Hepatitis Summit 2024 Convenes in Lisbon

LONDON, England, April 4, 2024 (Newswire.com) - The World Hepatitis Summit (WHS) 2024 convenes in Lisbon from 9 - 11 April and will bring together global experts to discuss the latest advances in hepatitis prevention, diagnosis and treatment.  

Policy makers, civil society members, representatives from the private sector, academics and other stakeholders will convene to deliberate and share updates on innovative approaches to increase access to testing, vaccination and treatment services for viral hepatitis. Deliberations will also focus on addressing stigma and discrimination and advocating for funding, with an aim for viral hepatitis elimination by 2030.  

At the Summit, the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) and The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will present findings from a first-of-its-kind report examining levels of stigma and discrimination surrounding people living with hepatitis in Europe. The report finds that half (50%) of those living with hepatitis B and C struggle to tell people about their hepatitis. Around a quarter of people living with hepatitis B and C report they have not told their family (23%) or friends (25%) about their hepatitis. 

Eliminating the stigma surrounding hepatitis through the introduction of policies and structural changes has been named as a key factor in hepatitis elimination by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

On the opening day of the Summit, WHO will release its 2024 Global Hepatitis Report. It is the first consolidated report on viral hepatitis epidemiology, service coverage and product access, with improved data for action. With information from 187 countries, the report outlines regional perspectives and actionable steps to scale up interventions, emphasising the importance of leveraging lessons from the COVID-19 response. A standalone press release will be issued by WHO on 9 April. 

About the World Hepatitis Summit 

The World Hepatitis Summit is organised by the World Hepatitis Alliance, with the support of the Ministry of Health of Portugal and co-sponsored by WHO. Its mission is to support countries in meeting the targets needed to eliminate viral hepatitis. It is being held in Lisbon and virtually. More information: http://worldhepatitissummit.org/ and https://www.worldhepatitisalliance.org/.

About Viral Hepatitis 

Viral hepatitis is inflammation of the liver caused by a virus. WHO says that the total deaths cause by viral hepatitis, including acute cases, cirrhosis and liver cancer, accounted for 1.1 million deaths globally in 2019. In total, over 350 million people in the world are living with viral hepatitis. Each year, over a million people lose their lives because of conditions related to acute hepatitis and chronic infection that cause liver cancer and cirrhosis. 

Source: World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA)