The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday, that more than 3,500 people die from hepatitis viruses every day, adding that the global toll is rising.
Viral hepatitis is the second-biggest infectious killer, narrowly trailing tuberculosis.
In a recent report released by WHO, new data from 187 countries showed that the number of deaths from viral hepatitis rose to 1.3 million in 2022 from 1.1 million in 2019.
The report released to coincide with the World Hepatitis Summit in Portugal this week, also revealed that there are 3,500 deaths per day worldwide from hepatitis infections, 83 percent from hepatitis B, 17 percent from hepatitis C.
Speaking on the issue during a press conference, head of the WHO’s global HIV, hepatitis and sexually-transmitted infection programmes, Meg Doherty described the trends as alarming.
The report says that there are effective and cheap generic drugs which can treat these viruses yet only three per cent of those with chronic hep B received antiviral treatment by the end of 2022.
It added for hep C, just 20 per cent or 12.5 million people had been treated.
“These results fall well below the global targets to treat 80 per cent of all people living with chronic hep B and C by 2030,” Doherty said.
Doherty, however, stated that the overall rate of hepatitis infections did fall slightly.
Also speaking, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that the report “paints a troubling picture”.
“Despite progress globally in preventing hepatitis infections, deaths are rising because far too few people with hepatitis are being diagnosed and treated,” he said in a statement.
The report also stated that Africa accounts for 63 per cent of new hep B infections, yet less than one in five babies on the continent are vaccinated at birth.
The organisation also lamented that the affected countries did not have enough access to generic hepatitis drugs and often paid more than they should.
Two thirds of all cases are in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia and Vietnam, according to the report.
“Universal access to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in these 10 countries by 2025, alongside intensified efforts in the African region, is essential to get the global response back on track,” the WHO said in a statement.