BANGKOK, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Global action against viral hepatitis has yielded tangible progress, yet the current progress is still falling short of the 2030 elimination targets, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest Global Hepatitis Report 2026 released Tuesday at the World Hepatitis Summit.

The report confirmed that hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) -- together responsible for 95 percent of viral hepatitis deaths globally -- claimed 1.34 million lives in 2024. Of these fatalities, 1.1 million were attributed to HBV and 240,000 to HCV, mostly resulting from liver cirrhosis and cancer.

Although preventable and treatable, transmission persists at an alarming rate, the report emphasized. In 2024, around 1.8 million new HBV and HCV infections occurred globally, with HBV and HCV each accounting for 900,000 new infections. As of 2024, approximately 287 million people, representing 3 percent of the world's population, were living with chronic HBV or HCV.

The report documented measurable achievements since 2015, driven by sustained, coordinated global and national action. Between 2015 and 2024, the annual number of new hepatitis B infections has dropped by 32 percent, showing progress with immunization and prevention programmes. HCV-related deaths decreased by 12 percent, mainly due to effective antiviral therapies.

The global prevalence of chronic HBV infection among children aged under five years fell from 0.8 percent in 2015 to 0.6 percent in 2024.

Meanwhile, the number of people living with HCV infection declined by 20 percent between 2015 and 2024, largely thanks to the scaling-up of curative treatments.

"Around the world, countries are showing that eliminating hepatitis is not a pipedream, it's possible with sustained political commitment, backed by reliable domestic financing," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

However, significant shortfalls persist, and current rates of progress are insufficient to meet all 2030 elimination targets, the report warned. Between 2015 and 2024, new HCV infections decreased by only 8 percent, far below the global target of an 80 percent reduction by 2030. HBV-related deaths actually rose by 17 percent since 2015, due to limited diagnosis and treatment.

Under current trends, the global target of a 65 percent reduction in hepatitis-related deaths by 2030, compared with 2015, will not be achieved without rapid scale-up of testing and treatment, the WHO emphasized.

Major bottlenecks lie in testing and treatment access, the report said, noting that vaccine coverage also remains critically insufficient in high-risk regions.

To get the global response back on track, the report outlined priority actions, including scaling up treatment for people with chronic HBV and HCV infection, improving hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination coverage and the coverage of antiviral prophylaxis to prevent mother-to-child HBV transmission. ■