Geneva, Switzerland, May 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Global Liver Institute (GLI) convened esteemed global leaders for an event on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, entitled “Together for Better Liver Health: Amplifying Best Practices Globally,” in partnership with the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). Now in its second year, this exclusive gathering has quickly attracted health leaders from around the world to become a driving force for liver health policy initiatives.
To complement the event, GLI released Best Practices in Liver Health Policy: A Liver Health is Public Health Report, which evaluates successes that certain countries have had in liver health policy to give insight and promote effective policies worldwide. The report highlights persistent challenges that patients face globally and thoughtful, thorough policies that address these challenges. Drawing examples from Egypt, India, Ireland, Scotland, and Türkiye, it showcases measures such as utilizing primary care data to screen high–risk populations and integrating fatty liver disease into national programs targeting non–communicable diseases.
The more than 100 types of liver disease– driven by a variety of causes from genetic, to viral, to over–exposure to toxic substances – pose substantial challenges for global communities and the health systems that serve them:
- Liver disease causes 2 million deaths per year around the globe.
- An estimated 1.5 billion people in the world have chronic liver disease – an increase of 13% since the beginning of the millennium.
- About 70% of liver cancer is preventable – yet it still faces late diagnosis rates and poor prognosis.
- Even rare liver diseases appear to be rising in prevalence; in Germany, for instance, the prevalence of the rare disease primary sclerosing cholangitis has risen by around 30% in less than five years.
“We are so grateful to work with such an enduring partner, EASL, and the expert panelists featured, to showcase how addressing liver health aligns with achieving major global public health priorities,” shared Donna R. Cryer, JD, CEO of GLI. “We launched the Liver Health is Public Health Initiative in the UK in 2022 hoping to engage and inspire international leaders and health ministers to deploy the diverse and powerful array of public health tools available to them to the tasks of preventing, identifying, and treating the millions at–risk or living with liver diseases and today is a significant milestone.
In a remarkable display of multi–stakeholder partnership and progress built upon the success of the inaugural event, the event demonstrated the expansion and elevation of the collaboration. For a full list of speakers, including key government figures in health as well as the leaders of internationally renowned organizations, please view the program agenda.
“We are happy to co–host this event alongside GLI and look forward to seeing its reverberating global impact,” shared Aleksander Krag, MD, PhD, MBA; Secretary General, EASL. “It is critical that this event happens in Geneva, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly, while leaders from each member state work together to prepare next year’s health agenda.”
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