India has renewed its commitment to eliminating hepatitis B and hepatitis C as public health threats by 2030, putting greater emphasis on prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and long-term care.
At a United Nations General Assembly side event on hepatitis, Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava highlighted India's people-centred approach to tackling viral hepatitis and reiterated the country's commitment to the global 2030 elimination target. The latest push comes as India expands screening and treatment services through the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NVHCP), which was launched in 2018.
The scale of the challenge remains substantial. A recent global analysis published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology estimated that India accounted for 35.3 million people living with chronic hepatitis B or C in 2022, or about 11.6% of the combined global burden.
For India, reaching the 2030 goal will therefore depend not only on treating people who are already diagnosed, but also on finding those who remain unaware of their infection and preventing new infections.
Why hepatitis B and C matter
Hepatitis refers to inflammation of the liver. While hepatitis can have several causes, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are particularly important from a public-health perspective because both can become chronic infections.
Over time, chronic infection can cause liver fibrosis and cirrhosis and substantially increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of primary liver cancer.
WHO estimates that 240 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B globally in 2024, while hepatitis B caused approximately 1.1 million deaths that year. Hepatitis C affected an estimated 47 million people chronically and was responsible for about 239,000 deaths, primarily from cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The 2026 WHO global hepatitis report also estimates that hepatitis B and C together caused 1.34 million deaths in 2024. India was among the 10 countries accounting for 69% of hepatitis B-related deaths worldwide that year.
India's hepatitis elimination programme
India launched the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme in 2018 to provide prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up services for viral hepatitis.
According to the Union Health Ministry, more than 21 crore beneficiaries had been screened and over 6 lakh people had received free treatment under the programme by July 2026. The country had also established 1,153 treatment centres, including specialised facilities providing advanced care.
By September, the government said the programme had screened nearly 225 million beneficiaries. Screening services were available through nearly 1.8 lakh primary healthcare facilities, including Health and Wellness Centres, extending up to tertiary-care facilities. The number of treatment centres had expanded to 1,039 in the latest update, reflecting differences in reporting periods and programme expansion.
The programme also works alongside other public-health initiatives. Hepatitis B screening is being integrated with reproductive and maternal health services, while the Universal Immunisation Programme provides hepatitis B vaccination, including the birth dose. The National AIDS Control Programme supports screening among high-risk groups, and existing molecular-testing infrastructure under the tuberculosis programme is being used where appropriate.
Why screening is critical
One of the biggest obstacles to hepatitis elimination is that infection can remain silent for years. People with chronic hepatitis B or C may have few or no symptoms until significant liver damage has developed. A person can therefore feel healthy while continuing to live with an infection that requires monitoring or treatment.
This makes testing particularly important for people with known risk factors or potential exposure. Hepatitis B can be transmitted from an infected mother to her baby during childbirth, through sexual contact and through exposure to infected blood, including unsafe injections or contaminated sharp instruments. Hepatitis C is primarily blood-borne and can spread through unsafe injections and medical procedures, unscreened blood, sharing needles and other forms of blood exposure.
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of more than 22 lakh blood donations in India found a pooled hepatitis B prevalence of about 1.11% among blood donors, although the researchers noted substantial variation between studies and diagnostic methods.
Vaccination can prevent hepatitis B
One of the major advantages in the fight against hepatitis B is the availability of an effective vaccine. WHO recommends hepatitis B vaccination for all infants, with a birth dose administered as soon as possible after birth, preferably within 24 hours. Timely vaccination is particularly important because infection acquired during infancy or early childhood is much more likely to become chronic.
India reported hepatitis B birth-dose coverage of more than 92% in July 2026. The Health Ministry has also urged states to achieve universal hepatitis B screening among pregnant women, helping identify mothers who may transmit the virus to their babies.
Hepatitis C can be cured
Hepatitis C presents a different opportunity because there is currently no effective vaccine, but modern antiviral medicines can cure the infection. WHO says direct-acting antiviral medicines can cure more than 95% of people with hepatitis C. Treatment courses can generally be completed within 8-12 weeks, although access to testing and treatment remains a major global challenge.
For hepatitis B, treatment is different. Chronic HBV can be controlled with antiviral medicines such as tenofovir or entecavir, which can slow progression to cirrhosis and reduce the risk of liver cancer. Treatment may need to continue long term or lifelong for many patients.
What does 'elimination by 2030' mean?
Eliminating hepatitis as a public health threat does not mean reducing infections to zero. WHO's framework calls for major reductions in new infections and deaths. The global strategy includes a 90% reduction in incidence and a 65% reduction in mortality from hepatitis B and C by 2030 compared with the 2015 baseline, alongside programme-level targets for diagnosis and treatment.
This means India's progress will ultimately depend on how effectively it can identify undiagnosed infections, prevent transmission, ensure vaccination, link diagnosed patients to treatment and maintain long-term monitoring.
The road to 2030
The latest WHO data show that the world has made progress but remains off track for several 2030 targets. In 2024, fewer than 5% of people living with chronic hepatitis B globally were receiving antiviral treatment, while only about 20% of people with hepatitis C had received treatment since 2015.
For India, the challenge is therefore moving from programme expansion to sustained population-level impact. Screening must translate into diagnosis, diagnosis into treatment and treatment into long-term follow-up.
WHO's 2026 implementation handbook specifically recommends integrating hepatitis services into primary healthcare, expanding point-of-care and simplified testing, decentralising treatment and strengthening systems for monitoring patients and programme outcomes.
India's renewed 2030 hepatitis commitment comes with an expanding public-health infrastructure, free testing and treatment under the national programme, widespread vaccination and growing access to care. The next phase will be about closing the gap between availability of services and people actually receiving them.
For individuals, the message is straightforward: hepatitis B can be prevented through vaccination, hepatitis C can be cured, and both infections can be detected through testing before they progress to serious liver disease. At the population level, India's ability to meet its 2030 goal will depend on sustained screening, prevention, timely treatment and ensuring that people who test positive do not fall out of care.
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