Achieving hepatitis B targets in Australia is cost-effective

The World Health Organization (WHO) has set specific hepatitis B elimination targets for 2030. These include: 

- 90% of people living with chronic hepatitis B to be diagnosed 

- 80% of people eligible for treatment to be treated.

In Australia, approximately a quarter of a million people are living with chronic hepatitis B, yet an estimated one in three are not diagnosed and only around 26% of those who are eligible for treatment (based on current treatment guidelines) are on therapy. 

The cost and cost-effectiveness of scaling up to reach the national and WHO targets in Australia have not been measured previously. This brief report presents our estimates.