Being only one of two countries where polio remains endemic should be enough of an ignominy for any country. Sadly, Pakistan is now also the single largest contributor to the global number of people living with hepatitis C, as per the WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report 2026. It is followed by India and China, with these three countries accounting for about 39 per cent of the global number of people living with hepatitis C as of 2024. Pakistan is also among the 10 countries that accounted for 58 per cent of global hepatitis C related deaths in 2024, along with along with China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, the US and Vietnam. The WHO has claimed that global progress in eliminating hepatitis is too slow, with viral hepatitis B and C claiming 1.34 million lives in 2024. On hepatitis C specifically, the reports says that the global burden is driven by historical transmission, unsafe medical practices and injecting drug use (particularly where harm-reduction services are limited), with persistent gaps in diagnosis and treatment access constraining the extent to which the burden has been reduced. These drivers suit Pakistan to a tee, with recent field reporting from different cities finding continued availability of banned reusable syringes and fake auto-disable syringes, which experts fear can fuel transmission of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV when used repeatedly by unqualified practitioners. Health experts also say unnecessary injections and quackery remain common in Pakistan and infection prevention practices are poorly enforced in both formal and informal healthcare settings.
Earlier this month, shocking footage filmed by the BBC over several weeks in late 2025 showed dangerous practices at a government hospital in Taunsa, with a syringe being reused on a multi-dose vial, staff injecting patients without sterile gloves and through clothing and discarded needles alongside syringes and open containers. Unsurprisingly, the hospital has been linked to an HIV outbreak, which has risen by over 200 per cent between 2000 and 2024 in Pakistan. If these kinds of practices are going on at a Teshsil headquarters hospital, then diseases like Hepatitis C and HIV are likely to be the consequence. It is seemingly not enough that many Pakistanis cannot even access basic health services. Even a trip to a hospital or clinic has now become a problem because, for those who cannot afford one of the better, often private, hospitals, dealing with reused syringes, untrained staff, unsafe practices and outright quacks is a real threat.
However, there is also a deeper layer to the hepatitis C tragedy. Despite the availability of short-course curative therapy that can cure more than 95 per cent of infections, the WHO report says only 20 per cent of people with hepatitis C have been treated since 2015. Pakistan’s high number of hepatitis C-related deaths thus highlights that many people are unaware of their status and/or not getting treatment, with the WHO saying that only 25-30 per cent of those affected are aware of it. The country’s health authorities have not been idle in the face of the hepatitis C threat. A prime ministerial plan to treat 50 per cent of people with hepatitis C by 2027 and to scale up prevention and diagnosis was put in place in 2024. One will have to wait and see how effective this plan is. But for now, it is enough to say that the problem has gotten so bad is an indictment of our health system.
