Eliminating hepatitis

By Gokarna Dahal

World Hepatitis Day is an annual event, observed around the world every July 28. The day is one of only four official disease-specific world health days declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). Viral hepatitis, a fatal and chronic infectious disease, is among the most prevalent and serious conditions in the world. Globally, viral hepatitis accounts for 80 percent of liver cancer cases and kills 1.5 million people every year.

People around the world now celebrate this event to raise awareness, to call for access to treatment and for better prevention. People get stimulated through the celebration activities and learn in detail about all preventive and control measures for hepatitis. This day was declared to honor Nobel laureate Baruch Samuel Blumberg who discovered the hepatitis B virus, as he was born on July 28.

This is the pivotal year for hepatitis because WHO and its member countries are politically committed to adopting the first strategy to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. The 69th world health assembly that was held in May adopted a strategy on viral hepatitis for 2016 to 2021. The target for this strategy includes a 30 percent reduction of new cases and 10 percent mortality reduction for hepatitis B and C by 2020.

Viral hepatitis is the seventh leading killer disease worldwide. This disease is widely spread and affects more than 400 million people globally. The surprising matter is that infections of hepatitis are ten times greater than HIV infections.

The theme of World Hepatitis Day for this year is” Know hepatitis ― Act now” to focus the world’s attention on diagnosis and treatment for this world epidemic. Data suggests only 5 percent of people with chronic hepatitis know about their infection, and less than 1 percent have access to treatment. The vision of eliminating hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030 can be achieved, if people and countries affected by this disease are better equipped and enabled to "know hepatitis" and "act now."

If people are better informed about disease, there will be less chance of getting infection and transmitting it to others. Increasing access to hepatitis testing is key to scaling up hepatitis treatment and care.

The writer is an officer in the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal who has served more than 12 years in different government hospitals of Nepal. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in global health policy at Hanyang University through the support of KOICA. Write to dahalgokarna7@gmail.com.