ECDC releases two new reports on hepatitis B and C entitled ‘Surveillance and prevention of hepatitis B and C in Europe’ and ‘Hepatitis B and C in the EU neighbourhood: prevalence, burden of disease and screening policies’.

Hepatitis surveillance is implemented in all Member States but varies considerably across countries. Universal vaccination programmes for HBV are implemented in 22 countries and seven countries have established targeted vaccination programmes.

The majority of the countries have implemented screenings for HBV in pregnant women; only four countries do not have such a programme. Half of the countries conduct screening programmes for hepatitis C, primarily for injecting drug users and prison inmates. Prevalence data on HBV and HCV remain scarce in many countries, both for the general population and groups-at-risk.