The World Hepatitis Alliance provides global leadership and supports action that will halt the death toll and improve the lives of people living with or affected by chronic viral hepatitis. Through better awareness, prevention, care, support and access to treatment, our ultimate goal is to work with our members, governments and other key partners to eradicate these diseases from the planet. The Alliance is the official delivery partner for the World Health Organization’s World Hepatitis Day.

World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) ofrece liderazgo global y apoya acciones que ayuden a minimizar las muertes y a mejorar las vidas de personas que viven con o están afectadas por la hepatitis crónica viral. A través de campañas de sensibilización, prevención, cuidado, apoyo y acceso a tratamiento, el objetivo principal de la WHA es trabajar con miembros, gobiernos y actores clave en la erradicación de estas enfermedades del planeta. La Alianza es el aliado oficial de la Organización Mundial de la Salud en el Día Mundial de la Hepatitis.

World Hepatitis Alliance offre un leadership mondial et soutient des actions visant à mettre fin aux décès liés à l'hépatite virale chronique, ainsi qu'à améliorer la vie des personnes touchées par l'épidémie. A l'aide de programmes de prévention, de traitement, de soutien et de sensibilisation, nous cherchons à travailler avec nos organisations membres, les gouvernements et autres partenaires afin d'ératiquer cette maladie. L'Alliance est le partenaire officiel de l'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé pour organiser la Journée Mondiale contre l'Hépatite.

World Hepatitis Alliance

3 February 2022 / 8 AM Washington D.C. / 3 PM Johannesburg / 4 PM Nairobi

: An interactive webinar (in English, French, and Portuguese) on how to integrate viral hepatitis programming and harm reduction into COP guidance, to more effectively engage people who inject drugs

: People who use drugs and their allies in PEPFAR-funded countries, treatment activists, global health professionals, representatives of civil society organizations, public health workers, advocates participating in PEPFAR listening sessions at country and regional levels

: The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the largest source of funding for the HIV response globally. It is critical that this money is used in ways that meet the needs of people living with and affected by HIV and viral hepatitis, particularly people who inject drugs, because they are disproportionately affected and excluded from care. PEPFAR Watch brings together activists ahead of the Country Operational Plan (COP) planning process cycle to develop priority recommendations of what to demand from PEPFAR.

If you’re interested in joining any of the other valuable PEPFAR Watch webinars, starting 18 January, sign up 

Advocating for Integration of viral hepatitis prevention and treatment for people who inject drugs in PEPFAR COPs (Country Operational Plans)

We, members and representatives of the viral hepatitis community—a community that includes people living with viral hepatitis, doctors, nurses, social workers, researchers, public health experts, and people who use drugs—are concerned over the growing gap between the enormous impact of hepatitis B and hepatitis C over people who use drugs and their almost non-existent access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment services around the world.

Sharing unsterile drug injecting equipment puts people at high risk of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections. Globally it is estimated that among the 15.6 million people who currently inject drugs 52% are hepatitis C antibody positive, and 9% are living with chronic hepatitis B infection; From a public health and human rights perspective, improving access to prevention and treatment for people who use drugs is crucial to reducing hepatitis C incidence and eliminating the epidemic, as sharing of needles, syringes and other injecting equipment is estimated to account for 23% of new infections.

Ensuring access to interventions such as low-threshold needle and syringe programmes, opioid substitution therapy, hepatitis C treatment and other harm reduction interventions are essential to reduce hepatitis C incidence and prevalence among people who inject drugs, and these interventions are cost-effective. In 2016, the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the first ever Global Health Sector Strategy (GHSS) on viral hepatitis. It identified harm reduction as one of five core interventions needed to reach the goal of viral hepatitis elimination by 2030.

Please click here to add your organisation's endorsement to the Declaration.

No elimination without decriminalisation! - Declaration at the 2017 World Hepatitis Summit

Ever wonder what the world will look like in 2030? Will there be driverless cars, David Bowie hologram concerts, a self-sufficient Africa or even Blue Ivy headlining Glastonbury? These things are all unknown but what is certain, viral hepatitis can be eliminated if we take action now.

Today, on World Hepatitis Day (July 28th), the World Hepatitis Alliance is launching NOhep, a global movement to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. The movement is calling on people across the world to sign up to the movement and take action to make the elimination of viral hepatitis our next greatest achievement.

Viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver due to a virus, is the 7th leading cause of death globally, accounting for 1.4 million deaths per year – more than HIV/AIDS or malaria. The most common of the viruses are hepatitis B and C, which affect up to 400 million worldwide and cause 80% of liver cancer deaths worldwide.

“We have the right to treatment for a cancer-causing virus” said Raquel Peck, CEO of World Hepatitis Alliance. “Let’s join together on World Hepatitis Day to stop millions of needless deaths and ensure everybody receives life-saving medication because only then we will have a world with “NOhep”. said Raquel Peck, CEO of the World Hepatitis Alliance and NOhepitivist

NOhep’s fundamental objective is to build awareness of viral hepatitis and the crucial role people can play, in their own lives, at more structural levels and in their communities, to help eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Based on the premise of social justice, NOhep is calling on all levels of society to take action to ensure the elimination of viral hepatitis is our next greatest achievement.

Nothing like this has ever been done for hepatitis before, and now, with the adoption of the World Health Organization’s Viral Hepatitis Strategy and the commitment by 194 governments to eliminate viral hepatitis, it can be a reality. By 2030, NOhep hopes to bring people together to save 7.1 million lives, by raising global awareness of hepatitis, helping those affected by hepatitis to speak up and by pressing governments to scale up resources to meet the targets outlined the strategy.

We may not know if The Simpsons will still be running, nor if our dogs will be able to speak to us by 2030, but one thing is for sure, if we take action today we can help eliminate viral hepatitis. If you want to find out more what could happen in 2030, watch the ‘2030 Year in Review’ video and join the movement at NOhep.org.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Achieving a world with “NOhep” to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030

For the last decade, those of us involved in the field of viral hepatitis have rallied together around a vision; a world where people living with viral hepatitis have access to safe and affordable care and treatment, transmission is halted and people do not face social marginalisation and inequality. This week we may be closer to that goal than we have ever been before.

At the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva (23 – 28 May), 194 countries will decide whether to adopt or reject WHO’s first ever Global Health Sector Strategy for Viral Hepatitis (GHSS), which sets a goal of eliminating hepatitis B and C by 2030 and includes a set of prevention and treatment targets which, if reached, will reduce annual deaths by 65% and increase treatment to 80%, saving 7.1 million lives globally by 2030.

Claiming the lives of 1.4 million per year (more than HIV/AIDS or malaria), these global killers are affecting more and more people with 10 million new cases each year - and a high-majority of these infections being amongst people who inject drugs. Globally 1 in 2 people who inject drugs (PWID) are living with hepatitis C and they are one of the most vulnerable, discriminated and marginalised groups, experiencing a range of health, socioeconomic and legal challenges, often with poor outcomes. Like the disease itself, they are often ignored and de-prioritised.

With vaccines and effective treatments for hepatitis B and a cure for hepatitis C now available, elimination of viral hepatitis is feasible and achievable, but will require a greater focus on at-risk populations and a dramatic scale up in interventions; at a global level, coverage of harm reduction programmes for PWID, including needle and syringe programmes, which are proven to prevent the transmission of viral hepatitis, is less than 10%.

This Strategy, with its ambitious targets can change that; calling for a major increase in the provision of sterile needles and syringes to people who inject drugs, from a current 20 needles and syringes per person who injects drugs per year to 300 by 2030, it represents a turning point.

Furthermore, the Strategy comes as a follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which includes Target 3.3, a commitment to combating hepatitis and Target 3.5 around strengthening the prevention and treatment of substance abuse.This means that all United Nation member states are required to reach these targets in order to meet the obligations of the SDGs. As such, the GHSS represents governments’ best way of achieving these goals.

We are so close but we are not there yet. Some countries still feel uneasy about all the work and scaling up of interventions needed to eliminate viral hepatitis.

We, as a community, must join together to show the adoption of the Strategy really is a no-brainer: reducing mortality rates will not only mean a reduction in personal cost of viral hepatitis, but will also mean reduced financial costs with health systems no longer having to deal with huge numbers of people suffering from the results of untreated viral hepatitis, such as liver cancer and cirrhosis.

Ahead of the Assembly, we and our 230 member organisations are calling on governments to support the adoption of the Strategy and its targets. If governments reject the Strategy, they will be perpetuating the neglect hepatitis has been subject to for years and turning their backs on saving 7.1 million lives. They will also be ignoring one of the key commitments of the SDGs, which is 

, a commitment so apt for people living with viral hepatitis and for those who inject drugs, many of whom are marginalised and discriminated against by society. It’s time we properly address viral hepatitis and rid the world of these cancer causing agents that burden so many people, once and for all.

To find out more about the Strategy, watch our animated video which also introduces NOhep, a global movement to eliminate viral hepatitis, to be launched on World Hepatitis Day this year (July 28 2016).

The World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) is a patient-led and patient driven non-governmental organisation (NGO), whose membership is comprised of organisations from across the world working in the field of viral hepatitis.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Eliminating a global killer by 2030

To celebrate the launch of the World Hepatitis Day 2016 (WHD) website and materials on 29 April, join the World Hepatitis Alliance on 9 May to learn more about WHD campaign and materials.

You will also hear more about the launch of NOhep, a movement to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, and how you can get involved on WHD. This webinar offers a great opportunity to ask questions and get inspiration for your WHD activities.
A recording will be made available after the session.

World Hepatitis Day 2016 Webinar

This year sees the first ever World Health Organization’s Global Elimination Strategy for Viral Hepatitis, which outlines a goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.

To mark this momentous occasion, the WHD2016 theme is elimination. The theme of elimination runs across various activities including treatment, prevention, awareness, tackling stigma etc. To reach elimination, we need a unified approach amongst patients, policymakers, public and medical professionals.

NOhep, a global elimination movement, will be launched on WHD2016 to bring people together and provide a platform for people to speak out, be engaged and take action to ensure global commitments are met and viral hepatitis is eliminated by 2030.

On WHD2016, we are calling on all people to taking actions to eliminate viral hepatitis.Download the toolkit for more info on how to get involved in WHD and to find out more about NOhep.

In this recording of the webinar, you will also hear more about the launch of NOhep, a movement to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, and how you can get involved on WHD.

World Hepatitis Day 2016 (WHD2016)

Civil society groups from all over the world have released a statement condemning governments for failing to acknowledge the devastating consequences of punitive and repressive drug policies as they prepare for a UN summit on the issue next month.

In April 2016, world leaders will gather in New York to decide on the future of global drug policy, at the first UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the topic in two decades. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for this meeting to be a “wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options.” But as the preparations continue this week in Vienna at an annual meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, it is becoming clear that the ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to rethink the failed ‘war on drugs’ is unlikely to deliver.

Civil society statement - The UNGASS outcome document: Diplomacy or denialism?

The World Hepatitis Alliance launched an open letter calling for immediate action to vastly improve access to life-saving drugs for viral hepatitis. Signed by over 120 organisations from 55 countries, the letter highlights that more people die each year from hepatitis B and C than from HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria and that “the single most important reason for this is that they do not have access to life-saving drugs for hepatitis B and hepatitis C“.

The open letter has been signed on behalf of the 400 million people worldwide living with hepatitis B and C and makes specific requests to governments and pharmaceutical companies.

Signatures were collected from delegates during the inaugural World Hepatitis Summit, a joint World Health Organization and World Hepatitis Alliance event that took place 2-4 September 2015 in Glasgow, UK. The letter has been sent to all pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies working in the field of hepatitis and the World Hepatitis Alliance will encourage its 220 member organisations to use the letter to lobby their national governments.

The global hepatitis community unites to demand access to life-saving hepatitis treatment

July 28 is approaching and this year’s Prevent Hepatitis campaign has a really strong social media element. For the first time this year we have a specific messaging pillar on harm reduction, together with a supporting infographic. One of the key messages we are trying to reach the public with is that of surface transmission – something that most people who use drugs do not consider; for policy makers we are pushing the need to support evidence based harm reduction as part of a health based approach to drug policies.

As part of our World Hepatitis Day awareness campaign we have set up a Thunderclap, which has a supporting video and sign-up from British actor/comedian Stephen Fry and sign-up from Sir Richard Branson. We would be very grateful if as many NGOs as possible could sign-up again this year. We have already hit a reach of nearly 16 million and with your help our important message will reach an even greater audience.

We also have the social media campaign ‘4000 voices’, calling for an end to the 4000 deaths caused each day by viral hepatitis; 4000 deaths which are preventable through vaccination, treatment, and awareness. To join the campaign simply tweet a message with the hashtag #4000voices and the IDPC Twitter avatar will be added to our mosaic, providing a ‘voice’ for the 4000 people who will lose their lives from hepatitis on World Hepatitis Day.

The final opportunity to show support for the campaign is through our Campaign Supporters wall on the official WHD website. Organisations can upload their logo with a link back to their website, to show that they support better awareness of and advocacy for viral hepatitis.

We are keen to promote any events happening to mark World Hepatitis Day. Our interactive map can help members of the public find out what is happening in their area, and also helps to illustrate that there is a global advocacy movement. If any of you are planning activities around the day, you can upload them to our website using a simple form.

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