With systemic prevention measures, diagnostics and treatment, hepatitis B and C can be eliminated by 2030, Danijela Lakoseljac, an epidemiologist at the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Public Health Institute, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, she said the slogan of this year’s global campaign was “Finding the Missing Millions” and that it referred to persons who were unaware that they might be infected.

The national slogan is “Get tested! Get cured!”

An estimated 325 million people globally suffer from chronic hepatitis B or C, a frequent consequence being cirrhosis or cancer of the liver and death, and 1.34 million people die of it, said Lakoseljac.

The problem with hepatitis B or C is that there are often no symptoms and infection can be established only by diagnostics.

In Croatia, hepatitis B incidence is low, with an estimated 0.2-0.7% of the population infected, i.e. 25,000, and the incidence trend is descending, notably in the past five years. The incidence of hepatitis C is between 0.5% and 0.9% and the trend is also descending, albeit slower than with hepatitis B, said Lakoseljac.