WHD Archive

The inaugural International Hepatitis C Awareness day, coordinated by various European and Middle Eastern Patient Groups, took place October 1 2004, however many patient groups continued to mark 'hepatitis day' on disparate dates.

In 2007 the World Hepatitis Alliance was formed to unite worldwide hepatitis B and hepatitis C patient groups and bring more public and political attention to the issue of viral hepatitis. With input of the Alliance’s members (organisations from around the world working in the field of hepatitis), the newly titled World Hepatitis Day was switched to May 19, and launched with the campaign slogan 'Am I Number 12?' in 2008. ‘Am I Number 12?’ referred to the worldwide statistic that 1 in 12 people are living with viral hepatitis B or hepatitis C, and the slogan was translated into 40 different languages for use by patient organisations worldwide, and also displayed in banner form on several public landmarks.

'Am I number 12' was maintained as the theme for the 2009 World Hepatitis Day, with many members also creating a hepatitis themed '12 asks of government'.

In 2010 the third annual World Hepatitis Day was held, with a new theme 'This is hepatitis' giving renewed focus to the human stories behind viral hepatitis.

Following the adoption of a viral hepatitis resolution during the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010, World Hepatitis Day was given global endorsement as the primary focus for national and international awareness-raising efforts and the date was changed to July 28 (in honour of Nobel Laureate Prof. Blumberg, discoverer of the hepatitis B virus, who celebrates his birthday on that date). The resolution resolves that:

"28 July shall be designated as World Hepatitis Day in order to provide an opportunity for education and greater understanding of viral hepatitis as a global public health problem, and to stimulate the strengthening of preventive and control measures of this disease in Member States;"

'This is hepatitis' was retained as the theme for 2011.

In 2012 a new tagline was added. The theme was now 'This is hepatitis... it's closer than you think'. In this year the Alliance developed a campaign video and facebook app to promote WHD and raise awareness. Video link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcsAN65LNBw&feature=plcp. The Alliance also organised a global record attempt which took place on World Hepatitis Day involving 12,588 people which resulted in a new Guinness World Record.

If you want to find out more about our activities in a specific year, download our wrap-up reports (top right hand side of this page) or email contact@worldhepatitisalliance.org 

The Theme

World Hepatitis Day dates, names, and themes 2004 – present: