Every year on July 28, World Hepatitis Day is observed. It aims to raise awareness about the disease to reduce the number of hepatitis patients around the world.
As per the World Health Organisation, the disease leads to around 1.4 million deaths every year. It also states that it is the second major killer infectious disease after tuberculosis.
Theme of World Hepatitis Day
The day witnesses a theme every year. This year the theme for World Hepatitis Day is ‘Invest in Eliminating Hepatitis’
As per the theme, the motive of the campaign is to achieve global elimination of hepatitis by 2030. World Hepatitis Day is being hosted by Pakistan this year and events related to the day will take place in Islamabad.
History of World Hepatitis Day
The day was initiated by the World Health Organisation as a global awareness campaign to entirely eliminate hepatitis from the world. In 2004, patient groups of European and Middle Eastern region celebrated it as International Hepatitis C awareness Day.
In 2008, the World Hepatitis Alliance in association with patient groups declared May 19th as Hepatitis Day.
Later the World Health Assembly changed the date to July 28th in May 2010. The name of the day was kept the same as World Hepatitis Day. July 28 was chosen as the day to honour Nobel Laureate Baruch Samuel Blumberg on his birth anniversary. He discovered the hepatitis B virus. Presently, more than 100 countries celebrate the day along with activities.
Significance of World Hepatitis Day
According to WHO, Hepatitis B affects around 40 million people and Hepatitis C affected 6 to 12 million people in the year 2017. World Hepatitis Alliance says that an estimated 290 million of men, women and children are presently living with the disease unknowingly.
It also states that if proper measures are taken to curb it, the number will increase by 76 million by 2030 and the number of preventable deaths would be around 18.1 million.
Hepatitis is an inflammatory condition that affects your liver. It is caused by different types of viruses, hepatitis is of 5 types, namely hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Among these, hepatitis A, B, and C are the most common. The day is marked to spread awareness about the viral disease.
