Hepatitis B & C in Pakistan: Signs, Spread & Prevention

What does it mean?

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are viruses that infect the liver. The liver is the body's chemical factory — it cleans the blood, stores energy, and helps digest food. When these viruses stay in the liver for years, they can silently cause cirrhosis (severe scarring) and liver cancer. Most people with chronic hepatitis feel completely normal for years, which is why the infection spreads quietly from person to person.

Common causes

• 1Pakistan's burden is enormous.
  WHO estimated 12.9 million people living with chronic viral hepatitis in Pakistan in 2024 — about 9.06 million with hepatitis C (3.60% of the population) and 3.86 million with hepatitis B (1.54%), per the WHO Pakistan hepatitis factsheet 2026.
• 2Pakistan has the world's highest number of hepatitis C infections.
  The WHO Global Hepatitis Report 2024 found Pakistan accounts for 44% of all new hepatitis C infections caused by unsafe medical injections worldwide.
• 3More than 48,000 Pakistanis die from hepatitis every year
  roughly one death every 11 minutes — yet only 3 out of 10 patients get treatment (Dunya News, citing WHO).
• 4Hepatitis C is curable.
  Modern medicines called direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) cure more than 95% of people, usually in an 8–12 week course of tablets, with far fewer side effects than older treatments (WHO on hepatitis C treatment).
• 5Hepatitis B is preventable by vaccine.
  WHO recommends every newborn receive the hepatitis B birth dose within 24 hours of birth, because infection at birth leads to chronic disease in up to 90–95% of infants (CDC — perinatal hepatitis B guidance). When the vaccine (plus immunoglobulin where available) is given within 12 hours of birth to a baby of an infected mother, the newborn has about a 95% chance of being protected.
• 6How it spreads in Pakistan:
  unsafe injections and unsafe blood transfusions are the leading causes (WHO Pakistan factsheet 2026). Other routes: unsterile needles, razors, dental and surgical instruments, tattoos/piercings, mother-to-child at birth. It does not spread by sharing food, water, hugging, or handshakes.
• 7Pakistan's barber/dental risk is real.
  Sharing unsterilized razors at barbershops and unsterile instruments at dental clinics are well-documented transmission routes in Pakistan — always demand new blades and sterilized instruments.

When to worry

Prevention & practical tips

• ✓Get everyone screened once. A simple blood test (HBsAg for hepatitis B, anti-HCV for hepatitis C) tells you your status. Ask your doctor — screening is the first step to cure.
• ✓Complete the hepatitis B vaccine series for every family member who is not already immune. It is safe, effective, and part of Pakistan's routine immunization (pentavalent) schedule for infants.
• ✓Insist on safe injections. Ask for a new, sealed syringe every time. One needle, one person, one use.
• ✓Insist on screened blood. Blood for transfusion must come from screened sources.
• ✓Barbers, dentists, tattoos: watch them open a new blade in front of you; ask your dentist about instrument sterilization.
• ✓Pregnant women: get tested for hepatitis B so the baby can be protected at birth.
• ✓If positive: see a doctor — hepatitis C can be cured, and hepatitis B can be controlled with medical care. Do not hide it; tell family members to get screened and vaccinated.

FAQs

References

• WHO Pakistan hepatitis factsheet 2026: https://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/pakistan/Pakistan-hepatitis-factsheet-2026.pdf
• WHO Global Hepatitis Report 2024: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240091672
• Dunya News, citing WHO: https://dunyanews.tv/en/Health/965104-who-says-129-million-people-living-with-hepatitis-in-pakistan
• WHO on hepatitis C treatment: https://www.who.int/teams/global-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-programmes/hepatitis/treatment-care/hcv-treatment
• CDC — perinatal hepatitis B guidance: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/hcp/perinatal-provider-overview/clinical-testing-guidelines.html