The World Health Organisation on Friday urged countries to take advantage of recent reductions in the costs of diagnosing and treating viral hepatitis and scale up investments in disease elimination to save lives.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus’ appeal came ahead of World Hepatitis Day on July 28.
WHO cited its new study, published on Friday in Lancet Global Health, showing the benefits of investing to eliminate the disease.
The study found that investing 6 billion dollars a year in eliminating hepatitis in 67 low- and middle-income countries would avert 4.5 million premature deaths by 2030, and more than 26 million deaths beyond that target date.
WHO said, For the vast majority of the 325 million people living with hepatitis B or C, accessing testing and treatment remains beyond their reach.
A total of 58.7 billion dollars is needed to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat in these 67 countries by 2030.
