STI Vaccine development
Hepatitis B
Vaccines against hepatitis B are a global success story, with a whole generation of young people now protected from this leading cause of liver cancer
Vaccines to prevent hepatitis B infection have been available for decades and are on the WHO List of Essential Medicines. Currently, 95 percent of all countries include hepatitis B vaccination in their infant immunization programs, and 84 percent of newborns receive the full three-dose vaccine series. Thanks to this increasingly widespread vaccination, hepatitis B infection is one of the few Sustainable Development Goals health targets that is on track.
296 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B, and 1.5 million new infections occur each year.
Over time, hepatitis B infection can severely damage the liver, leading to some 820,000 deaths each year due to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Safe and highly effective vaccines to prevent hepatitis B infection are available. Chronic hepatitis B is treatable, but only a tiny proportion of people living with the infection are diagnosed and treated.
Sources: WHO Hepatitis B Fact Sheet and Global Progress Report
Learn More:
WHO Hepatitis B Fact Sheet
WHO Global Progress Report on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2021