Spotlight on viral hepatitis: Liver inflammation disease can be fatal

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health marked Hawaiʻi Hepatitis Day 2025 by announcing a renewed commitment to statewide hepatitis elimination.

According to the department, the event was a lead-up to World Hepatitis Day on July 28. The overall effort is to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that can cause severe liver disease, liver cancer and even death. 

Hawaiʻi has one of the highest rates of liver cancer in the country, largely driven by hepatitis B and C infections, the Health Department reported. Death rates associated with hepatitis B are higher in Hawaiʻi compared to elsewhere in the United States, while hepatitis C has been associated with premature deaths in Hawaiʻi. Viral hepatitis disproportionately affects Asians and Pacific Islanders, sexual and gender minorities, people who inject drugs, unhoused individuals and people who are or have been incarcerated.

Act 114, signed into law on May 29 by Gov. Josh Green, will expand viral hepatitis services in Hawaiʻi. The new law provides additional funding for the Health Department to strengthen statewide efforts to increase awareness and access to hepatitis services, including testing, immunizations, care coordination and treatment.

“These new resources come at a critical point in the fight against viral hepatitis and put us on the path to eliminate viral hepatitis in Hawaiʻi by 2030,” said Timothy McCormick, chief of the Health Department’s Harm Reduction Services Branch. “It is a shining example of what we can achieve when state agencies and community partners come together around a shared goal.”

In 2011, the Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center and the DOH Harm Reduction Services Branch formed Hep Free Hawaiʻi, a coalition of more than 100 partners dedicated to increasing awareness of and access to viral hepatitis and harm reduction services in Hawaiʻi. Hep Free Hawai‘i, a public-private partnership that includes healthcare providers, social service organizations, advocates and public agencies, created a statewide plan to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Act 114 recognizes the progress made by Hep Free Hawai‘i and provides new state funding to advance hepatitis elimination efforts.

“Hawaiʻi now has greater resources and infrastructure to implement what we know works: evidence-based interventions grounded in equity, compassion and care,” said Heather Lusk, Health & Harm Reduction Center executive director. “We are incredibly heartened and proud that our state is committed to implementing effective public health policy.” 

The center serves Hawaiʻi communities by reducing the harm and fighting the stigma of HIV, hepatitis, homelessness, substance use, mental illness and poverty. It focuses its efforts on those disproportionately affected by social determinants of health, including but not limited to: people living with and/or affected by HIV, hepatitis and substance use; and the transgender, LGBQ, and Native Hawaiian communities. It fosters health, wellness and systemic change in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific through care services, advocacy, training, prevention, education and capacity building. To learn more, visit www.hhhrc.org. 

More information about the Hawaiʻi hepatitis elimination strategy is available at www.hepfreehawaii.org/hep-free-2030.