World Hepatitis Day 2021 Summary Report
World Hepatitis Day 2021
On 28 July 2021, individuals, organisations and governments around the world celebrated the tenth official World Hepatitis Day (WHD), which is one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) seven officially-mandated global public health days.
2021 theme - Hepatitis Can't Wait
With a person dying every 30 seconds from a hepatitis related illness – even in the current COVID-19 crisis – we can’t wait to act on viral hepatitis.
- People living with viral hepatitis unaware can’t wait for testing
- People living with hepatitis can’t wait for life saving treatments
- Expectant mothers can’t wait for hepatitis screening and treatment
- Newborn babies can’t wait for birth dose vaccination
- People affected by hepatitis can’t wait to end stigma and discrimination
- Community organisations can’t wait for greater investment
- Decision makers can’t wait and must act now to make hepatitis elimination a reality through political will and funding.
Online Impact
United under the ‘Hepatitis Can’t Wait’ theme, the World Health Organization, governments, civil society, people with lived experience and others came together and made an incredible impact online and in their communities.
Thousands pointed at the time to let the world know they can’t wait for hepatitis elimination and the #WorldHepatitisDay hashtag reached half a BILLION people with life-saving messages about viral hepatitis!
Global news and announcements
- The Lancet published findings from a WHA survey on the impact of COVID-19 on hepatitis services and civil society organisations.
- WHA President Su Wang wrote a blog for the World Economic Forum and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).
- WHA President- Elect Danjuma Adda spoke with BBC Africa on his experience of living with hepatitis B.
- WHA Chief Executive Cary James gave an interview for The Waiting Room, a blog of the Swiss academic publisher Karger Publishers.
- The UN and the WHO published World Hepatitis Day press releases highlighting the ‘Hepatitis Can’t Wait’ theme.
- The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination and local partners in 30 Countries launched National Hepatitis Elimination Profiles (N-HEP).
- The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination announced their 2021 Hepatitis Elimination Champions.
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and partners launched a public health programme with partners to tackle the silent epidemic of hepatitis C in low- and middle-income countries.
- Unitaid celebrated investing more than $45 million into hepatitis C projects since 2015, amid the COVID-19 pandemic threatening further progress.
- The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) supported a study identifying affordable treatments for hepatitis C.