hepatitis

2016 is a pivotal year for hepatitis

hepatitisMNA Feature Desk: 2016 is a pivotal year for viral hepatitis. At the World Health Assembly in May, WHO Member States are set to adopt the first ever Elimination Strategy for Viral form of this disease, with ambitious targets and a goal to eliminate the disease as a public health threat by 2030.

The theme for this year’s global campaign is ‘ELIMINATION’. This will be the first time national governments sign up and commit to the goal of eliminating viral hepatitis. To mark this historic moment we are using the theme of elimination for WHD 2016, which can be easily adapted for local use; to achieve elimination, greater awareness, increased diagnosis and key interventions including universal vaccination, blood and injection safety, harm reduction and treatment are all needed.

This means every activity that addresses viral hepatitis is a step towards elimination. In other words, no matter what your plans are to mark WHD, be it a rally or press briefing or screening events, they can all come under the theme of elimination.

World Hepatitis Day

In 2010 the World Health Organization made World Hepatitis Day one of only four official disease-specific world health days, to be celebrated each year on the 28th July. Millions of people across the world now take part in World Hepatitis Day, to raise awareness about viral form of this disease, and to call for access to treatment, better prevention programs and government action.

The day is observed to raise global awareness of a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. This disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.4 million people every year.

World Hepatitis Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Malaria Day and World AIDS Day.

Approximately 500 million people worldwide are living with either hepatitis B or C. If left untreated and un-managed, both form of this disease can lead to advanced liver scarring (cirrhosis) and other complications, including liver cancer or liver failure.

While many people worry more about contracting AIDS over this liver induced disease, the reality is that every year 1.5 million people worldwide die from either hepatitis B or C faster than they would from HIV/AIDS. However, groups, patients and advocates of this disease worldwide take part in events on 28 July to mark the occasion.

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