WHO publishes new guidelines on hepatitis B

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidelines on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chronic hepatitis B (HBV) infection to provide a substantial simplification and expansion of eligibility for treatment to overcome barriers to access to HBV testing and treatment. More than 250 million people live with chronic hepatitis B infection, leading to increasing deaths each year. Most of the global burden of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is due to mother-to-child transmission at or shortly after birth. WHO’s

Global health sector strategy sets actions and targets to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030 by driving new infections and deaths down to half a million each globally

– a reduction of 90 per cent and 65 per cent, respectively.

Considerable progress has been made towards eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HBV through universal infant HBV immunisation, including the timely hepatitis B birth dose. However, hepatitis B birth-dose coverage is only 45 per cent globally, with less than 20 per cent coverage in the WHO African Region. The 2024 guidelines prioritise simplified treatment criteria for adults and adolescents and expanded eligibility for antiviral prophylaxis for pregnant women to prevent mother-tochild transmission of HBV.