Your Excellency the Right Honourable Helen Clark,
Your Excellency Daniel Ngamije,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Welcome to all of you, and thank you for joining us today – those here with us in Geneva and those online.
I thank the World Hepatitis Alliance and its member groups for your continued leadership and partnership, and for co-organizing this Summit with WHO.
Hepatitis is one of the most devastating diseases on earth, but it’s also one of the most preventable and treatable, with services that can be delivered easily and cheaply at the primary health care level.
And in recent years, we have made encouraging progress.
The SDG target on hepatitis B has been met, and the number of people who have received treatment for hepatitis C has increased 9-fold to almost 10 million, reversing the trend of increasing mortality for the first time.
The development of new direct-acting antivirals has transformed hepatitis C from a chronic disease with limited treatment options to one that is curable in a matter of weeks.
Expanded coverage of infant vaccination for hepatitis B will save many children from liver cancer and cirrhosis later in life.
And several countries have participated in hepatitis elimination pilots, which will help WHO establish the validation process for certifying elimination.
However, despite these successes, most countries are still not on track for elimination by 2030.
Too many people still miss out on services to prevent or treat hepatitis, including infants in Africa who miss out on the crucial hepatitis B vaccine birth dose.
Scaling up hepatitis B birth dose in routine immunization schedules is low-hanging fruit that could make a massive difference.
The reasons people miss out on services for hepatitis are the same as the reasons they miss out on other health services – accessibility and affordability, because of who they are, where they live or how much they earn.
That’s why WHO’s new global health sector strategy sets new 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% and 65%, respectively.
But this is about people, not numbers. By 2030, we need to make sure that everyone at risk of hepatitis has the knowledge and tools they need to prevent it, and everyone living with hepatitis gets the care they need.
Crucially, the strategy emphasises the need for an approach grounded in primary health care and a commitment to universal health coverage.
WHO remains completely committed to supporting countries to accelerate towards elimination, by strengthening primary health care and more specialised care for those patients who need it.
WHO is also working closely with affected countries to investigate the concerning outbreak of unexplained acute hepatitis in young children.
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There are few diseases that we can realistically dream of eliminating, but hepatitis is one of them.
Sustained funding, relentless advocacy, and visionary political leadership will be essential for realising that dream.
Thank you once again for your continued partnership and commitment to eliminating hepatitis.
I wish you all a productive summit.
I thank you.