DOT Desk: To mark World Hepatitis Day yesterday, WHO urged policymakers, health care providers and political and civil society leaders in the South-East Asia Region and globally to accelerate hepatitis testing and treatment, recognizing that everyone, everywhere has just one life and one liver as the theme of this year’s event suggests, reports TBS.
“Our targets are ambitious but achievable. By 2030, we must achieve a 90% reduction in new chronic hepatitis infections and a 65% reduction in hepatitis mortality. We must eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat. On World Hepatitis Day, WHO reiterates its support to all countries of the Region to accelerate rapid, strategic and equitable progress, for healthier livers and healthier lives,” WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, said in a message yesterday.
WHO’s South-East Asia Region comprises 11 member states Bangladesh, Bhutan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
Globally, an estimated 354 million people live with chronic hepatitis B and C and nearly 1.1 million die annually from hepatitis-related complications such as liver cirrhosis and cancer. “Most of the patients come with liver cancer between the ages of 30 and 45, the most productive years in our country.