In a quiet victory for public health, children in the European Region are now safer from hepatitis B than almost anywhere else on Earth. Thanks to widespread vaccination programs, the percentage of kids under 5 living with hepatitis B has dropped to just 0.06 percent—well below the global target of 0.1 percent. That's not a rounding error or a small step; it's a threshold the World Health Organization set as a marker of elimination, and Europe has crossed it years ahead of schedule.

The numbers tell a bigger story. Since 2015, new hepatitis B infections across the region have fallen by 54 percent. Hepatitis C cases are also declining, with new infections dropping by 28 percent over the same period. Even the most stubborn problem—people already living with the virus—has started to improve. The number of people carrying hepatitis C has shrunk by 29 percent in the past decade, and deaths from the disease have fallen by 33 percent.

"The European Region has shown that hepatitis elimination is possible," said Stela Bivol, who tracks HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections at WHO/Europe. "Vaccination, harm reduction, infection control measures and access to hepatitis B and C treatment are saving lives every day."

Yet cracks remain in the armor. An estimated 9.7 million people in the region are living with hepatitis B, and another 5.6 million with hepatitis C. Most of them do not know it. Only 23 percent of people with hepatitis B have been diagnosed, and just 4.2 percent are receiving the medicine they need to stay healthy and prevent spread. Without faster action on testing and treatment, the region will not hit its goal of eliminating hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.

The gap is not about missing tools—diagnosis and treatment exist and work. The gap is about finding the people who need them.

Georgia offers a glimpse of what focused effort can do. The country's hepatitis C elimination program has become a model, showing that ambitious goals are within reach when hepatitis becomes a national priority.

"Our experience shows that every country can make progress when hepatitis becomes a national priority," said Dr. Maia Tsereteli, who leads hepatitis work at Georgia's National Center for Disease Control and Public Health.

World Hepatitis Day 2026 carries a direct message: the barriers keeping people from testing and treatment can be broken down. The vaccines, tests, and cures already exist. What remains is the will to reach the millions still waiting in the dark.