WHO 2024 hepatitis B guidelines: an opportunity to transform care
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health problem and cause of chronic liver disease and led to an estimated 1·1 million deaths in 2022, mainly due to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.1 In 2022, WHO estimated that 254 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B, of whom 65% were in the African and Western Pacific regions.1 Most of this global burden can be attributed to mother-to-child transmission at the time of or shortly after birth and horizontal household transmission.