Efforts Required To Control Spread Of Hepatitis

World Hepatitis Day was observed across the globe, including Pakistan, on Thursday with an emphasis on involving the community by raising awareness, endorsing partnerships and mobilising resources

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jul, 2022 ) :World Hepatitis Day was observed across the globe, including Pakistan, on Thursday with an emphasis on involving the community by raising awareness, endorsing partnerships and mobilising resources.

District Health Authority (DHA) organised a seminar at Holy Family Hospital in this connection.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Executive Officer DHA, Dr Lubna Ishaque, said about 15 million people were suffering from Hepatitis B and C in Pakistan, and around 150,000 new cases were added annually.

She said the wide-ranging effort was urgently needed to prevent millions of new infections and increasing deaths, while hepatitis C in the country was around 5 per cent and hepatitis B was nearly 2.5 per cent.

The CEO informed that Hepatitis A and E were spread by oral facial route while B and C were spread by blood.

The usual transmission mode of hepatitis B and C in Pakistan was a high rate of getting treatment by injections and intravenous therapy.

She added that the instruments were not properly sterilised, and the reuse of syringes by quakes was also a significant issue.

Dr Lubna said that although there were vaccines for Hepatitis B, a new treatment for chronic Hepatitis C was also available that could save millions of lives.

Meanwhile, a walk was held here at Rawalpindi Medical University(RMU) to mark the day.

Dr Muhammad Umer, Vice-Chancellor RMU, addressing the participants of the walk, said every third person of 10 in Pakistan was infected with hepatitis A or E, the most common variants which spread through contaminated water, adulterated food, reusing hypodermic needles, blades, and unsterilised surgical equipment.

He added blood transfusion without getting it screened was also a leading cause of the spread of this virus to a healthy person.

Dr Umer stressed the media's role through which people could be apprised about the disease and preventive measures for protection from the disease.

A large number of doctors,para-medical staff and others attended the walk.