Sagnik Nag, Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu
World Hepatitis Day or commonly referred to as WHD, is commemorated annually on 28 July to extend awareness of viral hepatitis. The disease causes inflammation of the liver that inflicts momentous liver damage and may lead to hepatic cancer. The date of 28 July was assigned because it is the birthday of Nobel-prize-winning scientist Dr. Baruch Blumberg, who discovered the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and formulated a diagnostic trial and vaccine for the affliction.
To record the day, WHO is hosting a Global talk conference furnishing an outlet for global, regional, and national leaders, policymakers, communities, and other stakeholders to examine alternatives for expediting the hepatitis response to attain elimination by 2030. Therefore, Hepatitis is an ailment that is inflicted due to an infectious virus and affects the liver. It is commonly of five kinds and may steer to some considerable diseases. Therefore, adequate treatment, diagnosis, and precaution should be expected.
What is Hepatitis all about?
Hepatitis relates to an inflammatory circumstance of the liver. It’s generally induced by a viral infection, but there are other feasible causes of hepatitis. These encompass autoimmune hepatitis and hepatitis that transpires as a secondary outcome of medications, drugs, toxins, and alcohol. It is a fraction of infectious ailments known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, or E— inflicting millions of people worldwide, emerging in both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) liver disorders. Hepatitis A and hepatitis E predominantly spread through contact with food or water that was tainted with an infected person’s stool. Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and hepatitis D spread through contact with the blood of some individual who has the illness.
Reason for celebrating this day:
Viral hepatitis causes approximately one million casualties each year. While casualties from tuberculosis and HIV have been dwindling, not to mention, deaths from hepatitis are surging. Hepatitis can be an acute (short-term) illness or a chronic (long-term) disorder. Some categories of hepatitis spur only acute infections. Other categories can induce both acute and chronic infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Trusted Source, roughly 4.4 million Americans are nowadays living with chronic hepatitis B and C. Numerous people don’t even know that they have hepatitis. Treatment alternatives alter depending on which type of hepatitis we are suffering from. We as a nation can impede some forms of hepatitis through active immunizations and continuous lifestyle precautions.
The theme of the year:
This year’s theme is “Hepatitis can’t wait”, disseminating the necessity of efforts needed to eradicate hepatitis as a public health hazard by 2030. With an individual expiring every 40 seconds from a hepatitis-related ailment – even in the prevailing COVID-19 catastrophe – we can’t continue waiting to act on viral hepatitis. Despite being a part of the ongoing COVID-19 pestilence, the global hepatitis society got unified with policymakers, medical professionals, and the general public to reach out to a larger section of the population with life-saving knowledge about viral hepatitis. Contributions and anecdotes from regions from different WHO regions will be showcased at the occasion.
WHD is a remarkably important day for the world’s hepatitis community to centralize and make our voices heard. It’s a day to celebrate the progress we have made and to confront the existing challenges. It’s also an alternative for us to improve awareness and facilitate a real political transition to jointly facilitate deterrence, diagnosis, and treatment. World Hepatitis Day is a terrific opportunity for us to boost awareness about the implication of knowing our hepatitis statuses and dispel the word about medication, to raise awareness among people about the hepatitis disease. Let us all unite in solidarity to make the theme of World Hepatitis Day a success story and make our nation Hepatitis free by 2030.
Also read: Xylans – an undervalued biorefinery gem
Reference:
- World Hepatitis Day- https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-hepatitis-day
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