Devex: Putting an end to global health’s ‘silent killer’
Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the WHO’s HIV/AIDS Department and the Global Hepatitis Program

“…[T]o make a real difference [in reducing infections and deaths from hepatitis], it will be critical to establish the sort of global political commitment that has built up around other communicable diseases — notably HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and polio. … On Sept. 2, delegates from more than 60 countries … are coming together in Glasgow, Scotland, at the first high-level global political meeting to address hepatitis: the inaugural World Hepatitis Summit. The summit intends to galvanize the growing global effort to control hepatitis by bringing together these groups around a common principle — that by applying the tools already in hand to expand access to lifesaving measures, we can dramatically reduce the impact and the extent of this disease. On the last day of the summit, participants will be asked to endorse a ‘Glasgow Declaration’ and work together toward the elimination of both hepatitis B and C. We hope that this would be the beginning of the end of hepatitis” (9/2).