Assessing the Status of and Impediments to Achieving the WHO Goal to Eliminate Viral Hepatitis B by 2030: A Scoping Review

Background/Objectives: In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) set targets to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, seeking a 90% reduction in new chronic infections and a 65% reduction in mortality relative to a 2015 baseline. Despite effective vaccines and potent antivirals, viral hepatitis mortality is rising. This review assessed the global and regional status of, and impediments to, the 2030 HBV elimination goal and compared hepatitis B virus (HBV) with hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination trajectories. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the JBI methodology and reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR. Peer-reviewed literature, global and regional surveillance reports, and grey literature published between 2015 and 2025 were searched across five databases and multiple institutional repositories. Data were charted against WHO impact and service-coverage indicators and mapped across the six WHO regions. Results: Ten core records that met the search criteria were synthesized. Overall, HBV-specific progress is uneven across the care continuum and differs sharply between regions. Routine infant three-dose vaccination (HepB3) reached 84% coverage globally in 2022, with 190/194 (98%) Member States having introduced HepB3, driving HBsAg prevalence below 1% in children under five. However, the timely birth dose (HepB-BD) stagnated at 46% globally and just 14–18% in the African Region, where only a minority of countries offer a universal birth dose. Only 13% of the 254 million people with chronic HBV were diagnosed, and 2.6% were treated. The total viral hepatitis toll increased from 1.1 million (2019) to 1.3 million (2022), with 83% attributed to HBV. Conclusions: HBV elimination is technically feasible but operationally off-track, and progress is regionally inequitable. Effective vaccines make prevention feasible, but current antiviral therapy remains suppressive rather than curative; the principal impediments are the birth-dose gap (most acute in Africa), a collapsed diagnosis–treatment cascade, centralized care, and inadequate domestic financing. Realigning with the 2030 targets requires integrating HBV services into antenatal and primary care, decentralizing testing and treatment through task-sharing, sustained domestic investment, and continued development of curative therapies.