LiverWELL Position Statement in Support of WHO Draft Resolution

Position Statement in Support of the WHO Draft Resolution: “Steatotic Liver Disease – A Missing Piece in the Global Noncommunicable Disease Response (EB158/CONF./7)”

As members of the LiverWELL Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) Action Network, we provide our strong support for Australia to vote yes to the draft World Health Organization resolution to recognise steatotic liver disease as a missing piece in the global noncommunicable (NCD) disease response.

As a collective of expert clinicians, researchers, community health professionals and consumers we are all too aware that steatotic liver disease is now the most common liver condition both globally and in Australia. It remains under-recognised and under-diagnosed, allowing potential progression to advanced liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. It is also closely linked with major noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Yet this condition is largely preventable and, when detected and addressed early, often reversible. We have the opportunity to improve the health and wellbeing of millions of people.

The draft WHO resolution promotes incorporation of steatotic liver disease into national NCD strategies and monitoring systems, investment in prevention and early detection, improved awareness and education, equitable access to care and strengthened multisectoral action on shared risk factors.

Australia is well positioned to be a global leader in this space due to our high-quality healthcare system, our long-standing leadership in public health interventions that target risk factors at a population level and our existing enabling preventive health policies.

A yes vote from Australia would demonstrate a clear commitment to prevention and coordinated global action on steatotic liver disease.

LiverWELL MASLD Action Network members

• Melanie Carew, Chief Executive Officer & MASLD Action Network Convenor, LiverWELL
• Sharon Jenner, Liver Health Manager & MASLD Action Network Convenor, LiverWELL
• Susan Abraham, Lived Experience of MASLD and Consumer Advocate
• Associate Professor Ralph Audehm, General Practitioner & Board Member Primary Care Diabetes Society of Australia
• Ariane Boulanger, Government Relations and Partnerships Lead, LiverWELL
• Fiona Clay, Consumer Advocate
• Dr Elena George, Senior Research Fellow, Deakin University
• Dr Madeleine Gill, Hepatology Consultant, Flinders Medical Centre
• Associate Professor Shelley Keating, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, The University of Queensland
• Dr Anita Lal, Senior Research Fellow in Health Economics, Deakin University
• David Menzies, Health Consumer Advocate
• Naveena Nekkalapudi, Health Consumer Advocate
• Sheridan Rodda, Clinical Pharmacist, Monash Health