World Hepatitis Day Special Research Topic: Achieving Viral Hepatitis Elimination in Children—Advances in Prevention, Diagnosis, and Care Across the Maternal–Child Continuum

Viral hepatitis remains a major global health challenge despite substantial advances in vaccination, screening, and antiviral therapies. While global elimination efforts have primarily focused on adult populations, children and adolescents continue to face important barriers to prevention, diagnosis, and access to care. Achieving the World Health Organization (WHO) goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030 will require greater attention to pediatric populations and the maternal–child continuum.

Mother-to-child transmission remains a leading source of chronic hepatitis B infection worldwide, highlighting the critical importance of antenatal screening, timely birth-dose vaccination, and preventive interventions during pregnancy and delivery. At the same time, growing opportunities to diagnose and treat pediatric hepatitis C have created new possibilities for reducing the long-term burden of liver disease in children and adolescents.

Recent advances in diagnostics, antiviral therapies, implementation science, and public health policy have strengthened the global response to viral hepatitis. However, significant challenges remain regarding early detection, treatment uptake, healthcare access, health disparities, and long-term follow-up. Further research is needed to identify effective strategies that can accelerate elimination efforts while improving outcomes for children and families worldwide.

In recognition of World Hepatitis Day, this Special Research Topic aims to bring together clinicians, researchers, public health experts, and policymakers to explore current advances and remaining challenges in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and elimination of viral hepatitis across pregnancy, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

We welcome submissions addressing topics including, but not limited to:

• Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B and hepatitis C

• Antenatal screening, maternal management, and perinatal interventions
• Birth-dose vaccination strategies and immunization program implementation
• Epidemiology and global burden of pediatric viral hepatitis
• Advances in diagnostic approaches, screening strategies, and case finding
• Pediatric hepatitis B and hepatitis C treatment and long-term outcomes
• Novel antiviral therapies and emerging therapeutic approaches
• Healthcare delivery models and linkage-to-care strategies for children and adolescents
• Health disparities, access to care, and global inequities in hepatitis prevention and treatment
• Public health policies and implementation science supporting hepatitis elimination
• Hepatitis in vulnerable, migrant, and underserved pediatric populations
• Long-term liver health and transition from pediatric to adult care
• Psychosocial and quality-of-life outcomes among affected children and families
• Economic evaluations and health systems approaches to elimination programs
• Global progress toward the WHO 2030 hepatitis elimination goals

By highlighting advances in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and public health implementation, this Research Topic aims to support global efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis and improve health outcomes for children and adolescents worldwide.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Pediatric viral hepatitis, Adolescent hepatitis, Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Liver disease in children

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.