The 2030 WHO elimination target for viral hepatitis is rapidly approaching, yet elimination remains a critical and under prioritised public health challenge in Europe and globally.
Despite significant scientific advances, persistent barriers continue to slow progress, including low disease awareness, insufficient screening and diagnosis, and gaps in prevention, access to care, long term management, and health system integration. In many settings, limited and fragmented data further constrain the ability to design, implement, and evaluate effective elimination strategies.
Progress towards elimination depends on the coordinated action of a broad range of stakeholders, including hepatologists, primary care physicians, and other healthcare professionals, policy makers, the private sector, patient and population groups, and harm reduction and public health organisations.
As the leading European liver society, EASL’s mission, credibility, and convening power position it as a core driver of change through multi stakeholder collaboration.
A structured, multi year programme
The EASL Viral HOPE Programme is delivered as a multi year programme running from 2026 to 2028, with the potential for extension into a second phase covering 2029 and 2030, aligned with the final stretch towards the WHO elimination goals.
The programme is built around three complementary workstreams:
The Viral HOPE Research Grants support high quality, multicentre research that addresses critical scientific, clinical, and implementation gaps in viral hepatitis. The grants are designed to generate robust real world evidence that informs clinical practice, strengthens health systems, and supports equitable access to care.
The Viral HOPE Policy Roundtables are high level policy events held in Brussels that position viral hepatitis elimination firmly within European public health priorities. By bringing together policymakers, clinicians, researchers, and patient representatives, the roundtables translate scientific evidence into concrete policy recommendations.
The Viral HOPE Conference will serve as the capstone of the programme, integrating insights from the Research Grants and Policy Roundtables into a high impact scientific and educational meeting.The conference will convene clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and patient representatives to consolidate evidence, compare regional approaches, and translate research and policy into real world implementation.
Driving hope towards elimination
Together, the Viral HOPE Grants, Policy Roundtables, and Conference form a continuous pathway from evidence generation, to policy engagement, to education and implementation.
By connecting outcomes, policy, and pathways to elimination, the programme supports meaningful progress towards a future free from viral hepatitis as a public health threat.