AUGUST 3, 2018

HBV Meds Affordable and Available, yet Treatment Lags

By Ethan Covey

Worldwide, few of the 257 million people living with hepatitis B virus (HBV) are aware of their infection. Of these, only 4.5 million are on treatment, despite wide availability and falling costs of the necessary drugs.

According to a new study, these numbers prove that much work remains to achieve World Health Organization goals of eliminating the infection worldwide by 2030 (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2018;67[28]:773-777).

The survey, which reviewed the effect of HBV and access to