Topic: “Accelerating Regional Progress: Translating SEARO’s Elimination Success into Global Policy Lessons”

Excellencies, 
Partners and colleagues, 

It is a real pleasure to be here this evening—among colleagues and friends who have been part of this journey for many years. 

Let me start on a personal note. 

Between ten and six years ago, as CEO of FIND, I worked with many of you—including John Ward—on hepatitis C. 

At that time, we were focused on improving tools and access—simplifying diagnostics and expanding treatment that was just becoming transformative. 

Today, the situation is different. 

The tools are there. 

Diagnostics are simpler. 

Treatment is highly effective and increasingly accessible. 

And yet, listening to our discussions today, my main reflection is this: 

the core challenge has shifted far less than it should have. 

We are still struggling to translate what we know into delivery at scale. 

From the WHO South-East Asia Region, we bring both urgency—and some hard-earned lessons. 

We carry around 16% of the global burden of hepatitis B and C. 

There has been real progress. 

The Maldives achieved triple elimination. 

Thailand and Sri Lanka have advanced dual elimination and are building on that progress. 

India is scaling nationwide approaches to elimination of vertical transmission, alongside expanding hepatitis B vaccination and screening. 

These are areas where political commitment has translated into results. 

But beyond this, progress is uneven. 

In many countries, hepatitis remains only partially integrated into health systems, and scale-up of testing and treatment is still too slow. 

So the lesson from our region is not that the challenge is solved. 

It is that we know what works—and where progress stalls.  

If there is one lesson from this, it is this: 

hepatitis elimination is no longer primarily a technical challenge. 

It is a question of policy choices and system design. 

Countries move when hepatitis is embedded into health systems and financing frameworks. 

They stall when it remains a vertical programme—competing for attention, funding, and workforce. 

So the real question is not what should be done. 

We know that. 

The question is: how do we make hepatitis visible where decisions are actually made? 

In national budgets. 

In UHC reforms. 

And in broader discussions on equity, maternal and child health, and NCDs.  

Advocacy must therefore evolve. 

Not only raising awareness—but anchoring hepatitis in country priorities, economic arguments, and delivery realities. 

Global commitments matter—but they only translate into impact when backed by investment, leadership, and accountability.  

WHO stands fully committed— to support countries as a technical partner and to convene partners around country-led priorities. 

But progress will depend on alignment— not parallel efforts but working together to deliver at scale.  

Let me close with a simple thought. 

When we meet again, the measure of progress should not be stronger statements or new strategies. 

It should be how many more people have been diagnosed, treated, and protected. 

Because that is where this agenda becomes real. 

Thank you.