World Hepatitis Day is a yearly campaign aiming to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, a major cause of preventable illness and death across the globe. The World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that 287 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B or C in 2024, despite new infections dropping over the previous decade. The theme for 2026 is “Hepatitis: Let’s break it down”, a call to remove the barriers that currently exist between people and lifesaving services. 

BMJ Open publishes research across a wide range of topics and study designs, and in this blog post we highlight published papers that demonstrate the current understanding of hepatitis awareness, treatment, prevention, and barriers to equitable care. 

Stuart et al. undertook a qualitative study evaluating the barriers and facilitators to re-engaging patients who had previously been diagnosed with hepatitis C (HCV) but had no known treatment outcome or clearance of HCV. This study contributes to the WHO Global Health Sector Strategy for the elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030, by improving testing and treatment in this population, recruiting staff from National Health Service England Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) to identify barriers and facilitators in the re-engagement exercise. Barriers reported by the participants included lack of up-to-date patient data, challenges in adequate staffing, and difficulty contacting patients, amongst others. 

A mixed-methods study by Ndione et al. explored the knowledge and awareness of hepatitis B (HBV) in Senegal. The authors interviewed participants living with HBV to examine their experiences and perceptions, whilst also analysing the role of digital media in disseminating HBV related health information. The study suggests a generalised lack of knowledge about HBV among participants , combining with widespread misconceptions to result in a complex array of fears, which could impact individuals’ ability to actively engage in care for HBV. 

In another qualitative study, Jackson et al. sought to document the barriers encountered by people living with hepatitis B (PLHB) when trying to access their HBV medications. Twenty-four online interviews took place with participants living in the USA or Canada, and the authors found that barriers could be categorised into patient-related, physician-related, and healthcare system-related, highlighting complex interactions between psychosocial and systemic factors. Some participants suggested that they did not feel as though they were involved in decisions related to their treatment, and that they were not equal-decision makers. Other barriers included high medication costs, challenges with insurance providers, limited communication and access to information, as well as stigmatisation. 

We are also looking forward to the results of several Protocol articles, including a multi-country trial by Draper et al., involving the comparison of two HCV testing and treatment pathways. Senoo-Dogbey et al. are currently undertaking a randomised control trial (RCT) in Ghana aiming to assess the effectiveness of a prison-based educational intervention in increasing knowledge, intention to test, testing uptake and treatment initiation in HBV and HCV.  

Together, these studies demonstrate the necessity of equitable access to hepatitis care services and increased awareness of this topic. We are pleased to see a diverse range of study designs capturing these outcomes, and look forward to the future directions of hepatitis research. If you’d like to share your research with us, you can find submission details here. 

This text was written without any assistance from AI.