Hepatitis C Prevalence Among People Who Inject Drugs

"People who inject drugs are disproportionately affected by hepatitis C virus (HCV). According to the latest estimate published in The Lancet in 2023, the global prevalence of current HCV infection among people who inject drugs is 38.8%. This means that around 5.8 million people who inject drugs are living with HCV.¹ There are considerable regional differences in HCV prevalence among people who inject drugs. The highest prevalence^a is in Eastern Europe where 48.4% of people who inject drugs have HCV (1.1 million), while the lowest is in the two regions of Eastern and Southern Africa and West and Central Africa where combined prevalence is 15.3% (192,000).^{b 2,3} The largest number of people who inject drugs with HCV is found in East and Southeast Asia, where 1.5 million people are living with the virus (a prevalence of 40.1%).⁴"