Pakistan pushes for global action against hepatitis amid alarming WHO findings

Pakistan used a high-level diplomatic gathering at the United Nations on Wednesday to build international support for stronger global action against viral hepatitis, while new World Health Organisation (WHO) data underscored the scale of the challenge facing the country.

The Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN and the Secretariat of the UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis co-hosted a strategic briefing on the sidelines of the UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS under the theme, “Advancing Hepatitis Elimination: Building Momentum toward High-Level Political Action”.

The meeting brought together health ministry officials, diplomats and global health experts to discuss viral hepatitis, a disease that claims approximately 1.3 million lives annually worldwide. Participants also explored pathways toward securing a standalone UN High-Level Meeting on Viral Hepatitis by 2028.

Opening the event, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Usman Jadoon highlighted Islamabad’s commitment to tackling one of the country’s most serious public health challenges.

“The government has launched the Prime Minister’s Programme for the Elimination of Hepatitis C, allocating $250 million in collaboration with the World Health Organisation to eliminate Hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030,” Ambassador Jadoon said.

He stressed that the initiative provides “entirely free screening, diagnosis, and treatment” to patients across the country.

“To ensure effective oversight and accountability, the prime minister himself is leading the National Task Force, which oversees the program’s progress and provides strategic direction,” the ambassador added.

Ambassador Jadoon noted that the task force included “a distinguished group of international and national experts, including leading public health experts, clinicians, researchers, and government officials”, reflecting the government’s determination to pursue a science-based approach to hepatitis elimination.

The briefing included a presentation by Dr John Ward, director of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination, who reviewed the global burden of viral hepatitis, recent political developments and opportunities for strengthening international cooperation.

The discussions followed the recent release of the WHO Global Hepatitis Report 2026, which identifies Pakistan as the largest contributor to the global population living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and one of the world’s ten countries with the highest numbers of HCV-related deaths.

According to the report, Pakistan had an estimated 9m people living with hepatitis C as of 2024.

The country was also among 10 nations that together accounted for 58 per cent of all hepatitis C infections worldwide, alongside China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam.

The WHO report further noted that Pakistan carries a disproportionate share of the hepatitis burden in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The region is estimated to have 12m people living with hepatitis C — about one quarter of the global total — and remains the only WHO region where more than 1pc of the general population is chronically infected.

Within Pakistan, hepatitis C prevalence remains particularly high in the provinces targeted under the national elimination plan. Punjab has the highest prevalence rate at 8.9pc, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 6.5pc, Sindh at 6.2pc and Balochistan at 5.2pc.

The WHO report also highlighted Pakistan’s ambitious national response. In July 2024, the government launched a prime ministerial plan aimed at treating 50pc of people living with hepatitis C by 2027 and achieving WHO elimination targets by 2030, with the federal government financing half of the programme’s costs.

Participants at the UN meeting reviewed both the WHO report and the Ministerial Statement on Hepatitis Elimination adopted at the 79th World Health Assembly. While effective tools for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure are widely available, speakers noted that viral hepatitis continues to receive insufficient political attention and funding relative to its health and economic impact.

Delegates exchanged views on how to elevate hepatitis within the broader UN agenda and discussed the procedural, political and financial considerations involved in convening a future UN High-Level Meeting dedicated to the disease.

The consultation concluded with broad support for continued coalition-building, wider geographic representation and stronger international engagement to accelerate progress toward the 2030 hepatitis elimination goals.

Representatives from Pakistan, France, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Peru, Türkiye, Mongolia, China, Brazil, Malaysia, Spain and the Philippines attended the meeting.

The gathering built on momentum generated at the 79th World Health Assembly, where ministers and senior government representatives endorsed a cross-regional Ministerial Statement calling for stronger leadership, increased financing and enhanced international cooperation to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat.