28th July is celebrated as World Hepatitis Day each year. This year, the theme is “Test. Treat. Hepatitis“.
Background Information:
Hepatitis attacks the most vulnerable. It can be prevented, diagnosed, treated and even cured.
Hepatitis B and C are chronic infections that may not show symptoms for a long period, sometimes years or decades.
Timely testing and treatment of viral hepatitis B and C can save lives.
Low coverage of testing and treatment is the most important gap to be addressed in order to achieve the global elimination goals by 2030.
Key Messages:
Viral hepatitis has become a major killer due to a lack of global attention, and causes debilitating diseases and also places a huge economic burden on families. Over the past 15 years, more and more people have been dying of viral hepatitis. Simultaneously, people are becoming newly infected with hepatitis.
Viral hepatitis B and C are major health challenges, affecting 325 million people globally. They are the root causes of liver cancer, leading to 1.34 million deaths every year.
More than 90% of Hepatitis B infections occur through mother -to- child transmission and during early childbirth.
High risk groups for Hepatitis B and C include:
- injectable drug users
- men who have sex with men
- people who have had tattoos or acupuncture
- partners of people living with Hepatitis B
- health care workers
At least 60% of liver cancer cases are due to late testing and treatment of viral hepatitis B and C.
The objectives of the campaign are:
- To support scale-up of hepatitis prevention, testing, treatment and care services, with specific focus on promoting WHO testing and treatment recommendations;
- To showcase best practices and promote universal health coverage of hepatitis services; and
- To improve partnerships and funding in the fight against viral hepatitis
You can help eliminate hepatitis.
Useful Links:
Link to the WHO World Hepatitis Day 2018 page:
http://www.who.int/who-campaigns/world-hepatitis-day/2018
Link to WHO Hepatitis B treatment guidelines:
http://origin.who.int/hepatitis/publications/hepatitis-b-guidelines/en/
Link to WHO Hepatitis C treatment guidelines:
http://origin.who.int/hepatitis/publications/hepatitis-c-guidelines-2016/en/
Link to WHO Question & Answer page on ‘What is hepatitis?’:
http://origin.who.int/features/qa/76/en/
Link to MMWR article on worldwide access to treatment for Hepatitis B virus infection:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6728a2.htm?s_cid=mm6728a2_w
Link to WHO fact sheet on Hepatitis A (reviewed July 2017):
http://origin.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs328/en/
Link to WHO fact sheet on Hepatitis B (reviewed July 2017):
http://origin.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs204/en/
Link to WHO fact sheet on Hepatitis C (updated April 2018):
http://origin.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs164/en/
Link to WHO fact sheet on Hepatitis D (reviewed July 2017):
http://origin.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/hepatitis-d/en/
Link to WHO fact sheet on Hepatitis E (reviewed July 2017):