World over 28thJuly is celebrated as World Hepatitis Day. World Hepatitis Day is one of the eight official global public health campaigns endorsed by World Health Organization (WHO), aiming at complete ELIMINATION of this disease.
In order to raise awareness and to sensitize people about Hepatitis , a Walkathon was organised at Sukhna Lake. Many People of the city joined hands to continue with their effort to create this awareness .
Viral hepatitis is a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E, affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic liver disease and killing close to 1.4 million people every year, mostly from hepatitis B and C.
Hepatitis B&C are blood borne viruses and most common modes of infection are through unsafe injection practices, IV drug abuse and the transfusion of unscreened blood and blood products.
In the early stage,Hepatitis B&C to a large extent is an asymptomatic disease. Hence in majority of cases patients are diagnosed at a very late stage leading to poor treatment outcome. Also due to lack of awareness on disease transmission there is a risk of these patients spreading the disease to others though various means.
Despite a low to moderate prevalence, India accounts for a significant share of global HBV and HCV infections due to the large population; As per estimate approximately 4 crore people are infected with HBV. Similarly it is estimated that 1.2 – 1.8 crore people are infected with HCV. Untreated chronic hepatitis B&C increases the risk of cirrhosis of liver and liver cancer.
Despite this high risk, the awareness and diagnosis of chronic Hepatitis B&C in India is abysmally low. As per estimate nearly 75% of those with chronic hepatitis C are unaware that they are infected.
Prof. Ajay Duseja and Dr Sunil Taneja (PGIMER Hepatology) emphasized the need to educate people on Prevention, Treatment and Cure of Hepatitis and added that the whole idea behind organizing such an event is , an attempt to reach out to maximum people !
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