A Global Heath: Crisis By the Numbers

It’s a global health crisis that gets little attention. Close to 300 million people worldwide are living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and roughly 800,000 die from HBV-related complications each year.

Compounding the problem is that HBV and HIV often go hand in hand, with 2.7 million people worldwide coinfected with both HIV and HBV. Among people living with HIV, untreated hepatitis coinfection promotes more rapid progression of hepatitis B– and/or C–related liver disease, liver cancer and untimely death, undermining the gains of effective HIV treatment. In addition, HIV coinfection doubles the risk of mother-to-child transmission of viral hepatitis.

The Asia-Pacific region bears a large burden of new and chronic HBV infections, and associated illness and death. The current slow rates of diagnosis and treatment of HBV are insufficient to achieve elimination. With its partners in the region, amfAR’s TREAT Asia program has long been a leader in the effort to expand access to HBV treatment and prevention and bring the epidemic under control.

We now need to reach more people with the tools we have to prevent and manage HBV. Effective vaccines against HBV are available at low cost, and there are opportunities to reach high-risk groups through existing harm reduction and other health programs. Programmatic strategies and political will are required to adopt WHO guidelines and leverage Global Fund and domestic funding to support access to care.

To eliminate HBV in the Asia-Pacific region, national programs need to allocate technical and human resources to ensure that high-risk groups and people with chronic HBV can access prevention, care, and treatment.