The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance to public health professionals tasked with managing a response to viral hepatitis. As every country’s needs are different with respect to its epidemiology and the current level of response, people would use this manual in different ways. This manual is intended:

• to help think more comprehensively about the hepatitis response in a country;

• to provide a step-by-step approach to setting up a national hepatitis plan and/or programme;

• to propose a governance structure that can be adapted according to needs; and

• to propose the outline of a national hepatitis plan.