IARC and Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population celebrate progress in hepatitis C elimination and liver cancer prevention

Ahead of World Hepatitis Day 2025, Dr Elisabete Weiderpass, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), delivered a keynote address in Cairo, Egypt, highlighting IARC’s research on hepatitis and liver cancer, at an event celebrating Egypt’s achievement as the first country to reach World Health Organization (WHO) “gold tier” status on the path to elimination of hepatitis C.

The event, hosted by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, included a panel discussion on the management of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, featuring IARC scientist Dr Partha Basu.

Hepatitis C virus is one of the five main strains of hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D, and E. Three of these strains – types B, C, and, most recently, D – have been classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) by the IARC Monographs programme. Chronic infection with viral hepatitis causes 1.3 million deaths every year even though most cases of hepatitis are preventable, treatable, and, in the case of hepatitis C, curable.

The example set by Egypt, which became an IARC Participating State in 2024, in becoming the first country to attain “gold tier” status on the path towards eliminating hepatitis C can help other countries to plan their own programmes to detect and control hepatitis C virus infection. In 2020, an estimated 7.4% of all new cases of liver cancer worldwide – equivalent to 170 000 new cases – were attributable to hepatitis C virus infection, highlighting the critical importance of eliminating hepatitis C as a cancer prevention strategy.

Visit the WHO World Hepatitis Day 2025 website 

Find out more about the IARC Monographs classification of hepatitis D virus