The number of people living with undiagnosed HIV is increasing in the WHO European Region. According to data published today by ECDC and the WHO/Europe, more than 136 000 people were newly diagnosed in 2019 – roughly 20% of these were diagnosed in the EU/EAA and 80% in the eastern part of the European Region. Every second HIV diagnosis (53%) happens at a late stage of the infection, when the immune system has already started to fail. This is a sign that testing strategies in the Region are not working properly to diagnose HIV early.
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.
ECDC coordinates the enhanced surveillance for hepatitis A, B and C to help countries define epidemiological trends or transmission patterns among newly diagnosed cases.
World Hepatitis Day on 28 July provides an opportunity each year to increase the awareness and understanding of viral hepatitis.
Approximately four in five people living with hepatitis B and three out of four people with hepatitis C infection across the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and the UK have not yet been diagnosed. This is a major obstacle on the way towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for health in 2030 as highlighted by ECDC on occasion of World Hepatitis Day.
For 2018, 30 EU/EEA Member States reported 24 588 cases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. When the five countries that only reported acute cases are excluded, the number of cases is 24 034, which corresponds to a crude rate of 6.0 cases per 100 000 population.
This report provides the first collation of data relating to the monitoring of the progress towards the elimination of hepatitis B and C for EU/EEA countries.
The first report monitoring the progress towards the elimination of hepatitis B and C across European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries has been published by ECDC.
Depending on the level of evidence provided and the methodology used, this advice is typically conveyed through a Guidance, a Systematic review or an Expert opinion.