Implementing Club: Ulaanbaatar Rotary Club

The “Hepatitis-Free Mongolia” project, launched in 2017, targets underserved regions, particularly remote areas and citizens not covered by insurance. The project focuses on early detection of viral hepatitis and liver cancer, offering screening and testing, followed by referrals for further treatment.

In Mongolia, diseases such as viral hepatitis and liver cirrhosis are often diagnosed too late, leading to high rates of liver cancer and missed opportunities for effective treatment. The “Hepatitis-Free Mongolia” project aims to early diagnose liver diseases, prevent their progression, and reduce mortality, while also striving to create a best-practice model for such initiatives.

From 2017 to 2024, the project successfully screened 13,000 individuals in Tuv, Sukhbaatar, and Dornod provinces for Hepatitis B and C, as well as liver cancer, and ensured that these individuals received further treatments in full.

This project has demonstrated that Hepatitis C can be limited and eradicated at the regional and local levels. It has contributed to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global initiative to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, providing a model for scaling up in Mongolia and other countries.

As recognition of its excellence, the project was named a Health Project of Distinction and was included in Rotary International’s list of outstanding health initiatives during the 2019-2020 Rotary Year.