World Hepatitis Day – July 28th at Premier Hospital
by Premier Hospitals | July 28, 2020 |
The World Health Organisation WHO initiated World Hepatitis Day on July 28th. The aim is to increase awareness of this disease to reduce the number of hepatitis patients worldwide. According to WHO, this disease causes around 1.4 million deaths every year. WHO also states that hepatitis is the second-largest deadly infectious disease after tuberculosis. According to WHO, in 2017, approximately 40 million people got hepatitis B, and about six to twelve million people got hepatitis C, in India. As per the World Hepatitis Alliance, we globally 290 million men, women and children currently live with unrecognised hepatitis virus. Hepatitis is a disease that affects the liver and causes inflammation of the liver. There are five main types of hepatitis virus, i.e., A, B, C, D and E, that cause both acute and chronic liver diseases. These five types are essential to know because of the severity of the illness and death, which also causes potential epidemic spread. Types B and C in particular cause chronic diseases in hundreds of millions of people, and together they are the most common causes of cirrhosis and cancer. The objective for 2020:
Provide information to help those at risk. To help people with hepatitis B or hepatitis C get the best care to maintain or improve their health. Other objectives are:- Involve people from all walks of life to focus on this topic together.
- Spread awareness about various types of hepatitis and how it is transmitted.
- Educate people about the prevention, diagnosis and control of hepatitis.
- Increase awareness of hepatitis A and B vaccines.
- Educate the public about opportunities for comprehensive care and treatment for various forms of hepatitis.
- Tell people about the risk of infection and how to access diagnostic tests for hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
- Tell people about the importance of a liver health check to monitor the health effects of hepatitis B or C and reduce the risk of developing severe liver disease and liver cancer
- Remove the social stigma associated with this disease.
- Increase the number of qualified doctors to improve the quality of treatment.
- Encourage doctors to take an active part in the event.
- Encourage doctors to inform and be involved in all aspects of diagnosis, treatment of hepatitis C.
- Encourage doctors to inform about all issues of hepatitis B and to communicate clearly to the patients about diagnosis and treatment.