A sobering new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has placed Nigeria at the center of a global health crisis, revealing that just ten countries including Nigeria account for a staggering 69 percent of all hepatitis B deaths worldwide.
Despite the existence of a vaccine that is 95 percent effective, viral hepatitis remains a relentless killer, claiming 1.34 million lives in 2024. The data paints a picture of a “preventable tragedy,” where the tools to save lives exist but are simply not reaching the millions of people living in the shadows of the disease.
The burden is particularly heavy across the African continent, which accounted for 68 percent of all new hepatitis B infections in the past year. Most alarming is the protection gap for the next generation; only 17 percent of newborns in the region received the critical birth-dose vaccine.
This lack of early intervention, combined with the fact that fewer than five percent of people living with chronic hepatitis B are receiving treatment, has allowed liver cirrhosis and cancer to claim lives at a rate of 4,900 new infections every single day.
For hepatitis C, the story is one of missed opportunities. Although a 12-week curative therapy with a 95 percent success rate has been available for years, only about 20 percent of those infected have actually been treated. In Nigeria and other high-burden nations like India and China, the disease continues to circulate among vulnerable populations, including those who inject drugs, who account for nearly half of all new cases.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus warned that while the tools for elimination are in our hands, progress is “too slow and uneven,” stalled by weak health systems and the persistent stigma that keeps many from seeking a diagnosis.
Yet, amidst these grim statistics, there are flashes of hope. The 2026 report noted that global efforts have successfully slashed new hepatitis B infections by 32 percent since 2015, and 85 countries have already met their 2030 targets for reducing prevalence in children.
Countries like Egypt and Rwanda have demonstrated that with sustained political will and investment, the disease can be pushed to the brink of elimination. As health leaders call for an urgent scale-up of birth-dose vaccinations and safer injection practices, the message to Nigeria and its peers is clear: the roadmap to 2030 is already written, but it requires the courage to fund it and the commitment to treat every patient as a life worth saving.
