For 2019, 30 EU/EEA Member States reported 29 996 cases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Excluding the five countries that only reported acute cases, the number of cases, 29 518, corresponds to a crude rate of 7.4 cases per 100 000 population.
In order to monitor progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 target to combat viral hepatitis, this report provides data on hepatitis B and C prevention, incidence, diagnosis, treatment, cure/viral suppression, and mortality in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries with data collected in 2019.
This brief will present a snapshot of hepatitis B and C testing in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA), discussing progress made towards the European action plan 2020 testing target, focussing on key populations and settings for testing, barriers to testing, and testing policies.
Urgent action is required to improve efforts to prevent hepatitis B and C infections in the EU/EEA and the UK if the region is to meet the 2020 targets for the elimination of viral hepatitis as a serious threat to public health. Significant gaps in the reported data in relation to prevalence and prevention of HBV and HCV in EU/EEA and the UK present a major challenge to monitoring progress towards the targets for elimination of hepatitis.