25-11-2019 - Researchers at the University of Antwerp and the University Hospital Antwerp (Belgium) have identified a set of genes who predict which individual will develop liver cancer, enabling early treatment and a higher chance for a preferable outcome. Thomas Vanwolleghem (VHPB advisor) (Article, in Dutch).

The VHPB endorsers the annual World Hepatitis Day campaign: Find the missing millions.

Worldwide, 300 million people are living with viral hepatitis unaware. Without finding the undiagnosed and linking them to care, millions will continue to suffer, and lives will be lost. On World Hepatitis Day, 28 July, we call on people from across the world to take action and raise awareness on the prevention and control of viral hepatitis, aiming to find the “missing millions”.

A World Hepatitis Day film has been made to raise awareness of viral hepatitis.

The VHPB not only draws the attention to viral hepatitis during the world hepatitis day, but continues to sensitize people and policy makers throughout the year, and year after year. The VHPB assists policy makers, health care providers and public health specialist and guides countries to prevent and control viral hepatitis:

• In October 2018, we discussed the management of viral hepatitis in Russia (Moscow, Russia); Prevention and control of viral hepatitis in the Russian Federation: Lessons learnt and the way forward.
• In April 2019 (Vilnius, Litvia) a multi topic meeting was organized to discuss the impact of viral hepatitis treatment and vaccination in non-responders and occult hepatitis on public health.
• At present, we are preparing a country meeting in Hungary (Budapest, Hungary) to investigate the way Hungary is controlling, managing and preventing viral hepatitis: Elimination of Viral Hepatitis in Hungary: Lessons learnt and the way forward.

MULTI TOPIC meeting: the impact of viral hepatitis treatment and vaccination non-responders and occult hepatitis on public health.

Also this year the VHPB endorses the WHO World Hepatitis Day (WHO) campaign, Finding the missing millions. Worldwide, 300 million people are living with viral hepatitis unaware. Without finding the undiagnosed and linking them to prevention and care, millions will continue to suffer, and lives will be lost. On World Hepatitis Day, 28 July, people from across the world take actions, raise awareness and join in the quest to find the “missing millions”. The World Hepatitis Day is the day that deserves full attention of the world for the prevention and control of viral hepatitis. But the task of the VHPB is not to draw the attention for only one day - during the whole year, and year after year, we help raising the awareness, assist policy makers, health care providers and public health specialist and guide countries to prevent and control viral hepatitis:

• This year Lisbon was the scene (March 2018, Lisbon, Portugal) to discuss hepatitis Vaccine Shortage and  Update on hepatitis B treatment.
• in May 2018 (Bucharest, Romania VHPB ACHIEVE meeting) a meeting was organized to review the  Elimination of Viral Hepatitis in Romania: lessons learnt and the way forward
• at this very moment we are in Hanoi (July 2018, Hanoi, Vietnam): to review Prevention and control of hepatitis B with  combined vaccines, and timely birth dose vaccination in Asian countries.
• And later this year we will meet with Russian experts to take stock of the way Russia is controlling, managing and preventing viral hepatitis (October, 2018; Moscow, Russia).

In collaboration with VHPB and other leading experts in the field, the Hepatitis B&C Public Policy Association has developed concrete policy recommendations and actions to be taken at national level to implement the Elimination Manifesto and to contribute to the elimination of HCV by 2030.

This book aims to provide information on the current vaccines that are used in childhood immunizations programs in Europe and the principles which underlie them. The textbook is destined to “vaccinologists” and European and other pediatricians and practitioners who deal with vaccines and vaccinations and will hopefully be used in the curriculum.

Editors: Vesikari, Timo, Van Damme, Pierre (Eds.)

WHO published the first Action plan for the health sector response to viral hepatitis in the WHO European Region (2017). The action plan adapts the Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis, 2016–2021 to the context of the European Region. The document addresses all five hepatitis viruses, but its major focus is on hepatitis B and C, given the high public health burden they represent in the Region. 

The meeting report of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication to discuss viral hepatitis elimination was published in the September 15th issue of the WHO weekly epidemiological record (WER). The report details:

• information presented and discussed at the meeting 
• ITFDE endorsement of the WHO elimination goals for hepatitis B and hepatitis C
• ITFDE recommendations for activities (underway and new actionable ideas) to accelerate progress toward viral hepatitis elimination

Eliminating the threat of HBV infection requires a comprehensive approach that includes prevention of infections acquired immediately before and after birth and during childhood, as well as during adolescence and adulthood. Norway and the United Kingdom have recently become the latest countries in the WHO European Region to add hepatitis B vaccination to their routine immunization schedules: Norway has offered the vaccine since February 2017 and the United Kingdom will provide a hexavalent vaccine, including hepatitis B, at age 2 months for children born after 1 August 2017. With these two additional countries offering population-wide protection against the virus, the Region is one step closer to its goal of controlling HBV infection, as established in the European Vaccine Action Plan 2015–2020. More info

The members of the Executive Board of the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) have written an open letter to the Cochrane Collaboration in which they raise doubts about the recent Cochrane review of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for the treatment of hepatitis C. The WHA points to the unsound methodology leading to unreliable conclusions.