Eliminating Viral Hepatitis by 2030 Is a Race Against Time
Jessica Hicks knows that the tools to save millions of lives already exist. As the Senior Director of the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA), she spends her days making sure those tools reach the people who need them most. Based in the United Kingdom, Jessica leads a global effort to eliminate viral hepatitis by the year 2030.
Her work is not just about medicine; it is about fairness. It is about making sure that a person's health does not depend on where they live or how much money they have. Through her leadership, she is turning a silent epidemic into a global priority.
Finding a Calling in Global Health
Jessica did not always plan to work on hepatitis. Before joining the WHA in 2016, she worked for other UK health charities. When she first applied for her role at the Alliance, she realized how little she actually knew about the disease.
Even though she had received a hepatitis B vaccine for a school trip to Malaysia years earlier, she did not understand why it was necessary. No one had explained the risks or the scale of the problem. When she began to research the numbers, she felt horrified. She saw a massive global health crisis that very few people were talking about.
This discovery sparked a passion in her. She saw an opportunity to work for an organization that puts people with "lived experience" at the center of its mission. Jessica joined as a project manager and worked her way up to a senior leadership role. Today, she sets the strategy for how the world fights this disease.
What Is the World Hepatitis Alliance?
The World Hepatitis Alliance is a group that leads the fight against viral hepatitis. When the group started in 2007, the world looked very different. At that time, the World Health Organization (WHO) did not even have a single person with "hepatitis" in their official job title.
The WHA changed that. They worked hard to put hepatitis on the global map. Today, the Alliance has more than 400 member organizations in over 100 countries. Jessica's job is to oversee:
Policy and Advocacy: Talking to governments and world leaders to pass laws that help patients.
Programs: Creating projects that help local communities test and treat people.
Campaigns: Raising awareness so that the public understands the risks and the cures.
Jessica explains that while her work often takes place on a global stage, the real goal is to create change on the ground in every town and city.
The Race to 2030
In a historic move, every country in the world agreed to a major goal: to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. With only a few years left, Jessica feels a great sense of urgency.
Phuong points out that when cancer reaches the liver, it can limit a patient's options for clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies that test new treatments. They often offer the best chance to extend life or improve the quality of treatment.
Hepatitis is the second deadliest infectious disease in the world, trailing only behind COVID-19. It kills more people than many other well-known illnesses, and sadly, the number of deaths is actually increasing. This is especially frustrating for experts like Jessica because the world already has the tools to stop it.
"We have all the tools to eliminate it," Jessica says. "It is just not good enough that people are still dying."
Currently, the gaps in care are huge. Globally, only about 13% of people with hepatitis B have a diagnosis. For hepatitis C, that number is only 36%. If people do not know they are sick, they cannot get the treatment they need to stay alive.
Connecting Hepatitis and Cancer
One of Jessica's biggest goals is to help people understand the link between hepatitis and liver cancer. Chronic hepatitis is a leading cause of liver cancer, yet many cancer prevention programs ignore it.
Jessica and her team are currently working on a major initiative at the United Nations. They want to make sure that "hepatitis elimination" is included in global plans to fight cancer and other long-term diseases.
She believes that testing, vaccines, and cures should be part of every country's national health plan. If a government commits to these tools, advocates like Jessica can hold them accountable. This "top-level" work at the UN eventually trickles down to help a person get a check-up at a local clinic.
The Challenges of Advocacy
Advocacy is rarely easy. Jessica points out two major hurdles she faces every day:
Funding: Hepatitis does not receive nearly as much money or attention as other diseases or different types of cancer. This forces Jessica to be creative. She partners with organizations in the HIV and cancer spaces to share resources and speak with a louder, united voice.
Medical Language: The world of liver health is full of confusing medical terms and "alphabet soup" acronyms. Jessica remembers how difficult it was to learn the "lingo" when she first started. She strives to make information easier for the average person to understand so they aren't scared away by complicated doctor-talk
A Vision for the Next Decade
When Jessica looks 10 years into the future, her hope is simple. She wants the vaccines, the treatments, and the cures to reach every single person who needs them.
She believes that in a perfect world, no one should develop liver cancer because of hepatitis. The science is already there. For hepatitis C, there is a pill that can cure the virus in just a few weeks. For hepatitis B, there are effective treatments and a powerful vaccine that prevents the infection entirely.
The challenge now is not a lack of science—it is a lack of access. Jessica is determined to spend the next decade breaking down the walls that keep people from getting care.
How You Can Become an Advocate
Jessica encourages anyone who feels moved by this issue to speak up. You do not need to be a doctor or a professional politician to make a difference. Advocacy can look like many things:
Using Social Media: Share facts to clear up misinformation.
Joining a Group: Look up the 400+ members on the WHA website to find a local organization near you.
Starting Conversations: Simply talking about liver health with friends and family helps break the silence and shame that often surrounds the disease.
As Jessica's career shows, one person's decision to learn more can lead to a global movement. By raising her voice, she is helping the world move closer to a future where hepatitis is a thing of the past.