World Hepatitis Day – The Invisible Killer

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World Hepatitis Day is organised on the 28th of July across multiple countries of the world. This day invites international collaboration to eradiate this illness from the face of the earth.

Dr Baruch Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). And henceforth developed a diagnostic test and vaccine for the same. This is why his birthday is celebrated as the World Hepatitis Day. The theme for the year 2020 is Hepatitis-free future.

There are five strains of the Hepatitis Virus and they are coded as A, B, C, D, and E. Out of which the B and C strains cause he maximum number of human casualties.

The World Health Organisation of the United Nations observes this as one of its campaigns. This year the focus is on preventing Hepatitis B among mothers and newborns.

Achieve a Hepatitis Free World on World Hepatitis Day

The world Health Organisation has asked all countries of the world to work towards a Hepatitis free world by 2030. It has also mentioned few steps to achieve this goal in the next 10 years and they are described as follows.

  1. Prevention of Infections in Newborn Children. This is to be achieved by vaccinating newborns for Hepatitis B. And followed by atleast two booster doses.
  2. Prevention Mother to Child Transmission. All pregnant women have to be checked for Hepatitis B and necessary vaccination must be done.
  3. No One is left out. Irrespective of the gender, status, ethnicity or language, everyone should have access to testing and medication. Victims of drug abuse, people in prisons, migrants are among the highly-affected populations.
  4. Expand access to testing and treatment facilities. This step will help in the prevention of other severe illnesses like liver cancer.
  5. Maintain essential hepatitis services even during the COVID 19 pandemic. Services like immunization of infants and testing facilities are essential for the prevention and treatment of Hepatitis.

These were few of the important steps to be taken to irradiate Hepatitis by the World Hepatitis Day, 2030.

(Feature image source: The StraitsTimes)