Distinguished members of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) on Viral Hepatitis, invited experts, observers, Director CDS and WHO colleagues,
Warm greetings and welcome to this second meeting of the Regional STAG on Viral Hepatitis.
It is a pleasure to come together once more in what has been a significant year in our mission to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.
In May, at the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly, Member States from across the world reaffirmed their commitment to end viral hepatitis, HIV and STIs as public health threats by 2030.
To facilitate that goal, they called on WHO to develop the next phase of its Global Health Sector Strategies (GHSS) for HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs for the period 2022–2030, with interim targets for 2025.
In September, at our Regional Committee meeting, Member States requested WHO to develop an integrated Regional Action Plan for viral hepatitis, HIV and STIs that will complement the updated GHSS, and which will enable all countries of the Region to achieve the requisite progress.
Work has already begun, building on the Region’s considerable momentum, reflected in the Region-wide roll-out of a series of initiatives, including:
First, our training of trainers’ programme, which amid the COVID-19 response, has been carried out virtually, and has been complemented by regular case-based discussions in collaboration with project ECHO.
Second, our landscape and bottleneck analysis on access to diagnostic and therapeutic products for hepatitis B and C, which is designed to help all countries of the Region ease product registration and reduce costs through required licences and pooled procurement mechanisms.
And third, our continued work with WHO Collaborating Centres, including to carry out estimates of the burden of hepatitis B and on the attributable fraction of sequelae in the Region caused by hepatitis B and C.
New WHO data shows just how urgent our mission is.
Nearly 354 million people are estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis B and C globally, of which at least 20% are in our Region.
Around 3 million people newly acquire hepatitis B and C infection globally every year, of which close to half a million are from our Region.
The South-East Asia Region accounts for nearly 220 000 of the 1.1 million lives lost to hepatitis B and C globally each year.
Across the world, just 10% of people living with chronic hepatitis B and 21% of those living with hepatitis C have been diagnosed, which compares with just 2% and 7%, respectively, in our Region – figures that are unacceptable, and which reflect a massive amount of avoidable morbidity and mortality.
Delayed and/or missed diagnosis is especially troubling given that we now have the tools to cure more than 85–95% of cases of chronic hepatitis C and to effectively manage chronic hepatitis B on a long-term basis.
Together, we must continue to highlight the message of this year’s World Hepatitis Day: Action to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat cannot and must not wait.
As distinguished STAG members and experts are aware, WHO is developing the next phase of its integrated Regional Action Plan for 2022–2026.
To inform that plan, I request this STAG to deliberate on how best we can leverage existing synergies between viral hepatitis, HIV and STI programmes, while at the same time integrating those programmes into primary health care services that are grounded in our overall quest to achieve universal health coverage – the Flagship Priority and Sustainable Development Goal target that underpins all others.
While the Region has made significant progress in enhancing access to preventive interventions such as hepatitis B vaccination, blood and injection safety, clean syringes and opioid substitution therapy, progress on diagnostics and treatment continues to be slow.
Increased attention is therefore needed on strengthening point-of-care and simplified diagnosis, and on decentralizing service delivery at the primary health care level. I look forward to your expert views.
Finally, I urge this STAG to deliberate on how best we can enhance coordination with noncommunicable disease programmes, with specific focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which in our Region and across the world is emerging as a major cause of liver cancer.
Before closing, I want to thank each and every one of you for your tremendous efforts to maintain hepatitis services throughout the COVID-19 response.
You stepped up when it mattered most, and you continue to deliver.
Your commitment and drive are inspiring.
I welcome you once more, wish you an engaging and productive meeting, and look forward to being apprised of the outcomes.
Thank you.