A woman who has lived with hepatitis B since infancy is calling for greater government accountability after official figures reveal that fewer than half of people estimated to be living with the infection in England have been diagnosed.
Faye Shilston, hepatitis B advocate and Trustee of HepB Companion, wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, in February 2025, calling for urgent action to address the lack of public awareness, testing and support for people living with hepatitis B.
Her letter called for four specific measures:
• Increased funding for hepatitis B research and treatment.
• A properly funded national public awareness campaign.
• Routine screening for at-risk populations.
• Timely access to medical care and ongoing monitoring.
The ministerial response, issued on 23 May 2025 by Ashley Dalton MP, Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, acknowledged the scale of the challenge but offered no specific commitment to deliver the requested national awareness campaign, additional funding or measurable action plan.
Instead, the response outlined existing programmes and initiatives, while acknowledging that approximately half of people living with hepatitis B remained undiagnosed.
More than a year later, the latest UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report, Hepatitis B in England 2025, published on 19 October 2026, reinforces the concerns raised in that original correspondence.
The official figures make for concerning reading:
• An estimated 268,767 people are living with chronic hepatitis B in England.
• Only 43.6% of the estimated population had been diagnosed by the end of 2024.
• More than 12,000 people received a new diagnosis in 2024.
• Approximately 25,000 new diagnoses annually over the next five years would be required to reach the WHO target of diagnosing 90% of people living with hepatitis B by 2030.
• Based on the current trajectory, it would take more than ten years to reach that diagnosis target.
The figures highlight a substantial gap between the Government’s 2030 elimination ambition and the action currently being delivered.
A personal issue with national consequences. Faye was adopted from Romania as an infant and acquired hepatitis B through contaminated needles in an orphanage. She has lived with the infection throughout her life and requires ongoing medical monitoring and treatment.For Faye, hepatitis B is not an abstract public health statistic. It is a lifelong condition with potentially serious consequences, including liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Faye Shilston said:
“I wrote to the Health Secretary because I believe hepatitis B is being overlooked in public health conversations. We have testing, vaccination and treatments available, yet hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to be living with this infection in England, and more than half do not know they have it.
“The Government’s response acknowledged the problem, but it did not provide the commitments I was asking for. There was no clear national awareness campaign, no additional funding commitment and no measurable plan explaining how we would close the diagnosis gap.
“Now, the latest figures from UKHSA demonstrate just how significant that gap remains.
“This is not about political point-scoring. It is about public health responsibility. People cannot seek treatment for an infection they do not know they have. Earlier diagnosis and appropriate care can make a significant difference to someone’s long-term health.
“We have a 2030 elimination target. We need to see a clear plan, appropriate investment and accountability for delivering it.
“Acknowledging the problem is not the same as solving it.”
The questions that remain unanswered: England has made progress in areas including antenatal screening, vaccination and emergency department testing. The introduction of opt-out testing in emergency departments has contributed to more than 12,000 new diagnoses in 2024.
However, the latest UKHSA report makes clear that this progress is insufficient to achieve the WHO diagnosis target.
The questions that now require public scrutiny include:
• Where is the commitment to a properly funded national hepatitis B awareness campaign?
• What additional investment will be made to increase diagnosis and access to treatment?
• How will the Government ensure people diagnosed through testing programmes are connected to appropriate ongoing care?
• Who is accountable for delivering the 2030 elimination commitments?
• How will people living with hepatitis B be meaningfully involved in shaping national policy?
Faye is calling for greater public scrutiny of the Government’s response and a clearer commitment to tackling hepatitis B as a public health priority.
The Government has acknowledged the diagnosis gap. Its own latest figures demonstrate the scale of the challenge. The public deserves to know what will be done to address it.
