Saima Wazed, regional director of the WHO South-East Asia, put emphasis on the collective responsibility to save lives and protect the health of future generations on the World Hepatitis Day on Sunday.
The theme this year is “It’s time for action.”
“We have the knowledge and tools to prevent, diagnose and treat viral hepatitis, yet people with chronic hepatitis B and C are still waiting to access the services they need.
We need to accelerate efforts to deliver equitable services closer to communities, at the primary health care level,” said Saima.
The World Health Organization has called on countries in the South-East Asia Region to urgently scale up efforts to provide universal access to prevention, vaccination, diagnosis, and treatment of viral hepatitis B and C.
Despite being preventable and treatable, these chronic infections are increasingly causing serious illness and deaths from liver cancer, cirrhosis, and liver failure.
Today, liver cancer is the fourth biggest cause of cancer deaths in the Region, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths among men.
Almost 75% of liver cirrhosis is due to hepatitis B and C infection. In 2022, the Region accounted for 70.5 million people living with viral hepatitis B and C.
Early testing and treatment can cure hepatitis C and prevent hepatitis B from causing liver cirrhosis and cancer and can help reverse the predictions that liver cancer rates in South-East Asia Region are set to double by 2050 to over 200,000 deaths annually.
