Hepatitis and the Sustainable Development Goals: time for an end run - Here, Jeffrey Lazarus talks about the need for a global goal of eliminating viral hepatitis.

This is unfortuante especially with a 'cureable' disease.....AF

Well it’s official. The governments of the world have committed to ending HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, but merely ‘combatting’ viral hepatitis.

When the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 25 September, I don’t doubt that advocates of many stripes were left feeling that this highly influential agreement did not sufficiently recognize the urgency of their claims.

It is not my intention to argue that viral hepatitis advocates have been short-changed any more than those who care deeply about other issues. I do, however, think it is important for everyone committed to ending viral hepatitis to think about what this aspect of the SDGs means to us.

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The end of hepatitis C?

2014 will do down as a pivotal year in the fight against hepatitis C virus (HCV), a blood-borne infection that is thought to infect around 2.5% of the world's population - some 170 million people.

The availability of new, more effective therapies for hepatitis C virus have raised the tantalising prospect of being able to eliminate the infection on a global basis,  although there are still significant obstacles to overcome.

Viral hepatitis - which generally means hepatitis B and C - “kills more people every year than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined, but has not had the same level of resources committed to it,” according to Charles Gore, who is chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust in the UK and president of the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA).

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Death rates from viral hepatitis among U.S. adults aged 18 years or older, 1999 - 2011

CDC reports that the death rate from viral hepatitis rose 2.2 times among men aged 45-64 years from 1999 to 2011 and 2.3 times among women in that same age group.

CDC reports that the death rate from viral hepatitis rose 2.2 times among men aged 45-64 years from 1999 to 2011 and 2.3 times among women in that same age group. Specifically, the death rate for viral hepatitis for men aged 45-64 increased from 11.9 to 26.5 per 100,000 population, while the death rate for women aged 45-64 increased from 3.7 to 8.4 per 100,000. For men aged 18-44 years, the death rate decreased 60% during the study period, and the death rate for women aged 18-44 dropped 46% from 2003 to 2011. The death rate did not change for women over age 65, but it increased 40% for men in that age group from 2004 to 2011.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (01/02/15)

Source:  http://www.pharmacist.com/death-rates-viral-hepatitis-among-us-adults-aged-18-years-or-older-19992011