Consolidated guidance on hepatitis B and C prevention, testing, treatment, service delivery and monitoring: an implementation handbook for a public health approach

Overview

This document consolidates, for the first time, WHO recommendations on the prevention, testing, treatment and monitoring of hepatitis B and C, and includes testing strategies for hepatitis D. Drawing on a decade of evidence-based guidance issued between 2015 and 2025, it provides a single, practical handbook to support global progress toward eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030.

Organized across the full continuum of care, the guidance promotes simplified, person-centred approaches adaptable to diverse health systems. Key prevention priorities include universal hepatitis B birth dose vaccination, prevention of mother to child transmission, blood and injection safety, and harm reduction for people who inject drugs.

Testing recommendations span both targeted and population level approaches, emphasizing rapid and point of care tools, molecular testing, dried blood spot samples and reflex testing to strengthen linkage to care. Updated treatment guidance simplifies eligibility criteria and monitoring for hepatitis B antiviral therapy and endorses curative direct acting antivirals for hepatitis C.

The document also highlights simplified service delivery models that promote decentralization, integration with primary care and related programmes such as HIV and tuberculosis, as well as task sharing and differentiated care to expand access and improve efficiency. It further underscores the need for robust data and monitoring systems to support effective programme implementation.