WHO, Imperial College London and the European Association for the Study of the Liver have launched the first WHO collaborating centre in the UK dedicated to liver disease, aiming to strengthen prevention, policy action and national responses across the WHO European Region.
Liver disease remains one of the few major noncommunicable diseases still rising in Europe, causing around 780 deaths every day and costing health systems an estimated €55 billion annually. The new WHO Collaborating Centre on Steatotic Liver Disease will focus on turning evidence into practical action by supporting countries with policy development, technical guidance, research and capacity-building.
“Almost every other major killer in the European Region – heart disease, most cancers – is moving in the right direction. Liver disease is moving in the wrong one. That should alarm us more than it does. Cirrhosis and liver cancer account for around 3% of all death in this Region. Their drivers – alcohol, poor diet, viral hepatitis – are some of the most preventable risk factors,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe
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Steatotic liver disease, formerly known as fatty liver disease, often goes undetected until advanced stages and can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Its main drivers include harmful alcohol use, unhealthy diets, obesity and metabolic disorders. WHO says nearly half of liver disease deaths could be prevented by tackling these risk factors.
“Liver disease puts an alarmingly heavy burden on European Region health systems. In the United Kingdom, for example, SLD accounts for about 1 in 20 hospital admissions. A 4-year workplan sounds modest against that scale, but it is the first time the infrastructure has existed to make sustained progress against it,” commented Professor Pinelopi Manousou, co-director of the Collaborating Centre.
The centre will work over the next four years to help countries strengthen liver disease prevention and care through evidence-based policy reports, training materials, implementation guidance and a pan-European assessment of steatotic liver disease.
WHO said the initiative marks an important step in integrating liver health into broader noncommunicable disease strategies and moving from recognition of the problem to coordinated action.
In summarizing the importance of this initiative Professor Mark Thursz, co-director of the Collaborating Centre, said: “The launch of the Collaborating Centre marks an important shift in the global response to liver disease – from recognizing the problem to building the systems, partnerships and policies needed to address it”.
