Breaking the Silence: The Case for Action on Fibrosis, MAFLD, and MASH

Metabolic dysfunction–associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) affects nearly one in four adults globally. In Asia Pacific, the trajectory is particularly concerning, yet most health systems remain oriented toward late-stage response rather than early detection.

This White Paper, developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary regional Advisory Panel, provides the first comprehensive, comparative assessment of policy and system readiness across nine APAC territories: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Using a structured scorecard framework, the paper assesses where each territory stands across five domains - policy and governance, prevention and screening, diagnostic capacity, treatment access, and awareness - and identifies the structural gaps that continue to drive late diagnosis and rising system costs.