World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes severe liver disease and liver cancer.
The World Hepatitis Day 2026 theme, “Hepatitis: Let’s break it down,” has made an appeal to remove the barriers that stand between people and the services that can save their lives. Viral hepatitis continues to be a major cause of preventable illness and death worldwide.
The tools needed to eliminate viral hepatitis already exist. Effective vaccines, accurate diagnostics, curative treatments for hepatitis C, and lifelong therapies for hepatitis B can prevent infections, save lives, and reduce liver cancer and cirrhosis. Despite this, millions of people remain undiagnosed, untreated, or unable to access care due to stigma, limited awareness, health system gaps, and persistent inequalities.
The 2026 campaign calls for turning proven science into action through stronger political commitment, sustained investment, and efforts to expand equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment, and care.
Find out more from the World Health Organisation website dedicated to World Hepatitis Day.
Hepatitis A is a liver infection that is spread in the poo of an infected person. Most people who get it get better within a few months.Hepatitis A is not common in the UK but it is common in other parts of the world. You can find out more from the NHS website.
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. It can be spread through contact with infected body fluids such as blood, saliva, vaginal fluids and semen, or passed from mother to baby. Disease can be acute or chronic, with chronic infection raising risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus of the same name. Transmission is spread through exposure to infected blood from unsafe injections, such as sharing needles and syringes or unscreened blood transfusions.
“The WHO has published a new report. The 2026 Global #Hepatitis Report is out now https://bit.ly/4vUyLKv It documents progress since 2015. For example, new hepatitis B infections have declined by 32 per cent while hepatitis C-related deaths have dropped by 12 per cent.
Hepatitis B prevalence among children under five has also fallen to 0.6 per cent, with 85 countries achieving or surpassing the 2030 target of reducing prevalence to 0.1 per cent.
The report estimates that 287 million people – roughly 3 per cent of the global population – were living with chronic hepatitis B or C infection in 2024.
Although the WHO African Region accounted for 68 per cent of new hepatitis B infections, only 17 per cent of newborns there received a birth-dose vaccination.
With regard to hepatitis C, people who inject drugs accounted for 44 per cent of new infections, underscoring the need for stronger harm reduction services and safe injection practices.”
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167395
The Library collections contain print and online resources on the topic of hepatitis. Resources can be found by searching in the Library’s search tool, Discover. A selection of books on this topic are on display in the Library’s Reading Room.
