Immunization against hepatitis B in infancy can significantly reduce the risk of liver disease in the future. Every 30 seconds, one person dies from the effects of hepatitis Health
World Hepatitis Day, July 28, is an opportunity to scale up efforts to combat this disease. This year’s theme is “now is the time to act.”
Liver inflammation
Every 30 seconds, another person dies from the effects of hepatitis. The World Health Organization is calling for accelerated action to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that can cause a range of health problems and be fatal. There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus, called types A, B, C, D and E. All cause liver disease, but there are significant differences between them, including how the virus is transmitted, the severity of the disease, its geographical distribution and prevention methods.
Hepatitis B and C
In particular, types B and C cause chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and are the most common cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis B and/or C is estimated to affect approximately 325 million people worldwide, and testing and treatment remain unavailable to most of these people. Hepatitis B and C cause 1.3 million deaths each year.
Saving Lives
Despite the emergence of more effective diagnostic and treatment tools for hepatitis and their decreasing prices, the coverage of diagnostics and treatment is not expanding. However, the WHO target to combat hepatitis by 2030 can still be achieved, experts believe.
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WHO: 3,500 people die from hepatitis B and C every day
Some types of hepatitis can be prevented by vaccination. According to a WHO study, an estimated 4.5 million premature deaths could be prevented in low- and middle-income countries by 2030 if vaccination, diagnostic testing and medicines campaigns are rolled out.
WHO Global Strategy
The goal of the WHO Global Hepatitis Strategy, endorsed by all Member States, is to reduce new infections by 90 percent and deaths by 65 percent between 2016 and 2030.
As of the end of 2022, only 13 percent of people living with chronic hepatitis B infection worldwide had been diagnosed and about 3 percent (7 million) had received antiviral therapy. As for hepatitis C, 36 percent of patients were diagnosed, and 20 percent (12.5 million people) were treated.
World Hepatitis Day
July 28, which is celebrated as World Hepatitis Day, is the birthday of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Baruch Blumberg, who discovered the hepatitis B virus and developed a diagnostic test for the virus and a vaccine against it.