More than 3,500 people die from the hepatitis virus every day and the global death toll is rising, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday, calling for swift action to combat the second-biggest killer of infectious diseases.

New data from 187 countries show that deaths from viral hepatitis increased from 1.1 million in 2019 to 1.3 million in 2022, according to a report released by the World Health Organization to coincide with this week’s World Hepatitis Summit in Portugal.

Meg Doherty, head of the World Health Organization’s global HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections program, told a news conference these were “worrying trends.”

According to the report, 3,500 people worldwide die from hepatitis infection every day, 83% of whom die from hepatitis B and 17% from hepatitis C.

There are effective and inexpensive generic drugs to treat these viruses.

However, the report said that by the end of 2022, only 3% of patients with chronic hepatitis B had received antiviral treatment.

For hepatitis C, only 20%, or 12.5 million people, receive treatment.

“These results are well below the global goal of treating 80% of people with chronic hepatitis B and C by 2030,” Doherty said.

Hepatitis infection rates have declined slightly overall.

But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that the report “paints a disturbing picture.”

“Despite global progress in preventing hepatitis infection, deaths continue to rise because too few people with hepatitis are diagnosed and treated,” he said in a statement.

According to the report, Africa accounts for 63% of new hepatitis B infection cases, but less than one-fifth of babies on the continent are vaccinated at birth.

The U.N. agency also lamented that affected countries do not have adequate access to generic hepatitis drugs and often pay more than they should.

Two-thirds of hepatitis cases occur in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia and Vietnam, the report said.

“Universal access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment in these 10 countries by 2025, coupled with stepped-up efforts in the African region, will be critical to getting the global response back on track,” the World Health Organization said in a statement.

Viral hepatitis is the second leading killer of infectious diseases, after tuberculosis.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)