A UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis
CGHE flag with other country flags

A UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis

The UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis held its second annual meeting during UNGA 78

The United Nations Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis re-affirmed global solidarity for hepatitis elimination at their second annual meeting on September 22, 2023 during the 78th UN General Assembly in New York.

Formed under the leadership of Egypt’s permanent mission to the UN, the Group of Friends aims to increase health diplomacy, as well as national and international commitments, to achieve WHO targets of hepatitis elimination by 2030. This year’s meeting featured two programs. The first program was “Strengthening Political Commitment and Global Solidarity for Hepatitis Elimination: Hepatitis service integration via UHC.” The second program was “Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B virus: Achievement of the UN SDG.”

Details from the 2nd Annual Meeting on Sep 22, 2023

Meeting at the Yale Club in New York City on September 22, diplomats and health ministers from 15 member states presented, and representatives from 14 international organizations participated. Dr. Harvey Alter, a recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work leading to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, gave an opening statement. "I'm impressed you would travel so far and have such enthusiasm to join this Group of Friends...How often can you participate in a project that can eradicate a chronic, fatal disease? This is our goal." 

Ambassador Ahmed Elshandawily, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the UN, welcomed participants and urged international commitment to eliminate hepatitis: “We have an opportunity to mobilize support through this group…to exchange information, best practices, and lessons learned on the prevention of viral hepatitis and increasing testing and treatment.”

Portugal and Chile joined Egypt in the group’s Leadership Circle. Ambassador Jorge Aranda of Portugal expressed his country’s strong support for the Group of Friends, and Andrea Peña from Chile’s Ministry of Health shared in this message. 

The first session was focused on international commitment and pursuing hepatitis elimination through universal health coverage. Pakistan Ambassador to the US Masood Khan reaffirmed his country’s commitment to elimination by 2030. Representatives from WHO, Africa CDC and Pepfar spoke in the morning’s program. Ministers of health and high-level health policymakers from Ghana, Korea, Ukraine, Somalia, Malaysia and Mexico also spoke on the situation of hepatitis in their countries and their commitment to progress. 

In the second program, speakers from the World Hepatitis Alliance, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance were joined by health officials from Ethiopia, Uganda, Georgia, Malawi, and the United States to discuss the urgent need for elimination of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B. The program concluded with a panel discussion including officials from WHO, WHA, Harvard’s Program in Global Primary Care and Social Change, HepB Foundation, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Andrea Peña from Chile’s Ministry of Health explained that there is much work yet to do, and that the group must not flag in its efforts to meet elimination goals. “We urge everyone to embrace tenacity…and continue working for those who need our attention the most.”

CGHE serves as the secretariat to the UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis. Read on below for more information about the history and mission of the group.

You can view event recordings and presenter slides from our Sept 2023 event here. You can receive updates in your inbox if you subscribe to our newsletter.

After a meeting at UNGA 77 in September 2022 co-hosted by CGHE, Egypt's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Osama Abdelkhalek, formally invited all Member States to join the Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis. He wrote, "The Group of Friends on Hepatitis Elimination is built on a foundation of building political will to promote access to hepatitis prevention, care, and treatment and seeks to provide a platform for exchanging information, best practices, models for innovation and lessons learned."

The Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations launched the Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis with a kickoff meeting on February 28, 2023. The event was hosted by Ambassador Abdelkhalek and attended virtually by sixty participants from more than twenty-five member states. Also in attendance were partners from WHO, the African Union, and the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination, which serves as secretariat of the group.

Viral Hepatitis is a massive global health threat. More than 300 million people live with viral hepatitis, and it kills 800,000 people a year. Despite the availability of safe testing, treatment and vaccines, viral hepatitis causes more deaths globally than HIV, malaria, or tuberculosis. Unfortunately, many countries lack the funding and political urgency necessary to defeat the disease. Deficiencies in resources and infrastructure, as well as a dearth of reliable data, are major barriers.

In recognition of the threat posed by viral hepatitis, the United Nations and the WHO have established goals for elimination by 2030. Those goals include specific targets: a 90% reduction in incidence and a 65% reduction in mortality.

Right now, though some countries are meeting benchmarks towards these goals, many are not. Only by scaling up efforts to vaccinate newborns and sharply increase testing and treatment, particularly in Africa, will we achieve global elimination. A UN Group of Friends can unite the world in a shared purpose, with cooperative health diplomacy, to eliminate hepatitis by the end of this decade.

The activities of the Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis will be determined by the participating Member States. The Coalition is supporting communications to encourage participation by all Member States and increase awareness regarding the launch mission and goals of the group.

The Group of Friends will focus on building political commitment for hepatitis elimination within countries and globally. Participating Member States will meet regularly, along with supporting organizations, with goals such as information sharing, strengthening international cooperation, and promoting equity.

Member States of the United Nations General Assembly can join the UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis through the Representatives of their Permanent Missions.

The Coalition will continue to post news and updates related to the Group of Friends here on our website, as well as sharing through our social media on TwitterFacebook, and LinkedIn.

If you are a representative from a Member State or a related health organization, and you would like specific information on joining the Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis, please email us at globalhep@taskforce.org.

Page last updated: 16 February 2024