The African Hepatitis Summit 2025 is hosted by Government of Rwanda (Rwanda Ministry of Health) in collaboration with the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA),World Health Orhanization (WHO),Africa CDC and other global leading organizations like the Clincton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE), Center for Disease Analysis (CDA) Foundationand Hepatitis B Foundation.The summit will brings together every voice in the space of viral hepatitis in AFRO.
Viral Hepatitis in Africa: Epidemiology and service coverage:
In 2022, nearly 65 million people were living with hepatitis B and nearly 8 million people were living with hepatitis C in the African Region. The African Region accounts for 63% of new hepatitis B infections globally. Less than 5% of people with hepatitis B in the Region have been diagnosed, and only 5% of these have received treatment. An estimated 13% of people with hepatitis C have been diagnosed, and only 3% have received treatment.
Dying from viral hepatitis in Africa is becoming a bigger threat than dying from HIV/AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis. Yet, a new analysis shows that the disease remains neglected in many parts of the continent.
Across majority of African countries, access to viral hepatitis treatment has not yet shifted to a public health approach. Many countries in the region have adopted WHO guidelines, but implementation lags behind and the availability of affordable and simplified regimens is limited, especially in primary health care. The regional coverage of viral hepatitis prevention, diagnosis and treatment is too low, and people living with viral hepatitis and their communities continue to bear the heavy burden of the epidemics.
Across Africa, epidemiology of viral hepatitis B/D and C varies according to locations and local context. However, populations of interest include general to high-risk populations such as People Who Inject Drugs, Sex workers, migrant and refugee, adolescents and young people, men who sleep with men, trans populations and healthcare workers. Pregnant women, their spouses/partners and household contacts are also populations of interest in the region.
HBV EMTCT and Triple Elimination;
About 5% of the general population in the WHO African Region and Western Pacific Region are living with hepatitis B. In the European Region and the Region of the Americas, this prevalence is about 1%.
Among children younger than five years, the hepatitis B prevalence is less than 1% in all regions except the African Region. The African Region accounts for 63% of all new hepatitis B infections, highlighting the importance of a focus on scaling up access to viral hepatitis services in Africa, antenatal screening for HBV along with HIV and Syphilis, implementing hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination and hepatitis B treatment among pregnant women.
With 63% burden of HBV and 18% uptake of hepatitis B birth-dose vaccines in the region, the threat of mother to child transmission of hepatitis B poses a formidable threat to the region and the future of young people and adolescents in Africa.
Access to hepatitis commodities in Africa:
The prices of generic viral hepatitis medicines continue to be low, but many countries are still not accessing generic medicines at these low prices because of policy and access barriers. The prices paid across and within WHO regions vary greatly, and many countries pay higher prices than global benchmarks, even if drugs are off patent or if the countries are included in voluntary licensing agreements or manufacture generic products locally.
Except for a few countries in Africa, majority African nations depend on commodities and drugs from Asia for their populations, leading to instances of stock-outs of drugs for millions of patients and very exorbitant prices, most of which are out of pocket for the patients.
The globally negotiated prices for TDF and DAAs are not readily available across majority of African countries.
Opportunity for Action: The Cairo Declaration;
The highest political declaration on viral hepatitis elimination in Africa is the Cairo declaration and the First Ladies HBV PMTCT commitment.
Egypt in Africa demonstrated the evidence of high-level commitment by political and national governments in Africa in investing in hepatitis elimination. Rwanda, has equally demonstrated high level political support to hepatitis elimination and most recently Malawi, that achieved the award of triple elimination are good examples to leaders in Africa.
The Cairo declaration provides a platform for mobilizing action from African leaders to commit domestic funding into national hepatitis elimination projects, even in the absence of catalytic funding from donors or external partners.
High-impact interventions are available, such as an effective cure for hepatitis C and vaccines for hepatitis B, but access to these interventions must be urgently expanded to save lives and prevent a future generation of new infections, cancers and deaths.
What we lack in Africa is national political champions to lead national and regional campaigns on hepatitis elimination. The global and regional response is off-track towards 2030 goals. If action is taken now, universal access to viral hepatitis interventions will have a major public health impact – reducing incidence by 90%, mortality by 65% and the costs of achieving global targets by 15%.
Regional priorities to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030 in Africa include:
- Increase visibility and awareness of viral hepatitis at high-level political and government leadership and community settings across Africa.
- Scaling up access to viral hepatitis testing as an entry point to expand access to treatment and care;
- Leveraging HIV and primary health care services, and strengthening linkage with maternal and child health services to promote triple elimination of mother-to- child transmission of HIV, HBV and syphilis in the Region;
- Continuing to advocate for greater domestic funding for the viral hepatitis response in the context of universal health coverage and leveraging external funding opportunities such as from the Global Fund in the context of eliminating mother-to-child transmission and HIV and hepatitis co-infection and from Gavi for hepatitis B vaccination as important entry points to expand the viral hepatitis response;
- Accelerating the registration of viral hepatitis medicines and commodities in the Region;
The health and political community have a golden opportunity to eliminate viral hepatitis. Now is the time to seize the moment, expand efforts, formalise funding, and raise national and international attention. The 2030 targets are a challenge, but they are within reach. It is time to press for them.
The AHS is a flagship event by members of the World Hepatitis Alliance in AFRO region.