26 May 2026

Liver disease has been formally recognised within the global noncommunicable disease (NCD) agenda for the first time.

The World Health Assembly (WHA79) has adopted the resolution “Steatotic liver disease: a missing piece in the global noncommunicable disease response”, marking a major step change in how liver health is prioritised worldwide.

The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) has described this as a historic milestone - liver disease will now sit alongside cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes within national health strategies.

This recognition is particularly significant given that steatotic liver disease - including MASLD, alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) and MetALD - affects an estimated 1.5 billion people globally, but has historically been under-recognised in policy, funding and service planning.

Prof Debbie Shawcross, Professor of Hepatology and Chronic Liver Failure at the Roger Williams Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College London and Consultant Hepatologist, King’s College Hospital NHS FT and Secretary General of EASL said:

Steatotic liver disease is a growing global health challenge that has been overlooked for far too long. This resolution is a critical step – but we now must commit to embedding liver disease in our NCD frameworks to benefit patients.

This is a real opportunity to help save lives. For patients in south London and across the UK, this shift should mean earlier diagnosis when liver disease is still reversible, more joined-up care that treats related conditions together, particularly for conditions linked by shared risk factors such as obesity, alcohol use and metabolic disease, and a stronger focus on prevention.

This global endorsement reinforces King’s Health Partners strategic ambition to improve population health through not only prevention and early detection, but also integrated care and research.