World Hepatitis Day is observed every year on 28 July to raise awareness and promote global action on viral hepatitis
Hepatitis B virus was discovered by Baruch Samuel Blumberg in 1967. In order to honour him, his birthday i.e. 28 July was chosen as World Hepatitis Day
Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. It is usually caused by a viral infection, but there are other possible causes
There are five main types of the hepatitis virus – A, B, C, D and E. But most patients are of type A, B and C hepatitis
Image credit- pix4free.org
According to WHO, as of 2019, an estimated 116 million people in the Western Pacific are living with hepatitis B and 10 million with hepatitis C
In 2019 alone, an estimated 78000 deaths occurred worldwide due to complications of acute hepatitis A to E infections
According to WHO, B, C and D types of chronic hepatitis infections are responsible for over 95% of hepatitis deaths
This year theme - Bringing hepatitis care closer to you. The idea of this theme is to highlight the need for bringing hepatitis care closer to the primary health facilities