WHO has significant success in the fight against hepatitis

More and more people in the world have access to medicines for hepatitis

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now announced that increasing success in the fight against hepatitis. More and more people around the world are receiving important medicines to treat hepatitis C.

At this year's World Hepatitis Summit in São Paulo, Brazil, scientists from the World Health Organization announced that there are great successes worldwide in the treatment of hepatitis C. The WHO published a press release on the results of its study on the prevention of hepatitis C.

Hepatitis is a disease that costs many thousands of lives every year worldwide. The WHO reports that there are increasing successes in the treatment of hepatitis. (Image: adiruch na chiangmai / fotolia.com)

Improved access to medicines for hepatitis C

The fight against hepatitis, according to the WHO, seems to be going well and even improving. This is due, for example, to improved access to key anti-hepatitis C drugs. Alone in the last two years, about three million people have received anti-hepatitis medication. This is a true record number, explain the experts.

Since 2016, 2.8 million people have been treated for hepatitis B.

There are also another 2.8 million people who have been treated for hepatitis B since 2016. This is partly due to the fact that more and more countries are providing access to critical medicines for sufferers and further improving such access.

More and more countries are developing plans to fight hepatitis

"We've seen a nearly five-fold increase in the number of countries that have developed national plans to eradicate life-threatening viral hepatitis in the past five years," said Gottfried Hirnschall, WHO director of the WHO's HIV and hepatitis program. The findings reinforce the hope that a complete elimination of hepatitis could become a reality in the near future, the expert adds.

Hepatitis can lead to cancer

A disease caused by hepatitis can have dangerous consequences for your health. Hepatitis viruses, for example, can cause inflammation of the liver and even cause cancer. In Germany alone, about one million people could be infected with hepatitis, according to WHO experts. Many sufferers probably do not know about their illness themselves.

Hepatitis C in the future to 90 percent curable?

By using the new drugs, hepatitis C could be 90 percent curable in the future, the researchers explain. According to the WHO, about 1.3 million people die of one of the six forms of hepatitis every year worldwide. A total of approximately 325 million people are estimated to be ill.

Financial efforts in many countries need to be further increased

By the year 2030, the so-called viral hepatitis should have been eliminated, at least, this has set the world community as a target. So far, the doctors and experts have not yet reached their goal. The financial efforts in many countries should be further intensified, the researchers demand. (As)