Call for WHO resolution on viral hepatitis
Approximately 500 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis B or C virus which is 10 times the number infected with HIV/AIDS. Over 50 percent of people infected with viral hepatitis live in countries where there is no free testing and 41 percent of the global population do not have access to government funded treatment.
A recently published research from the World Hepatitis Alliance shows that only a minority of governments currently fund hepatitis B and C awareness activities and much more needs to be done to tackle two diseases that kill one million people a year.
500 million people await the World Health Assembly's decision on hepatitis as they prepare to mark the third annual World Hepatitis Day on May 19. If adopted, the resolution would provide global endorsement of World Hepatitis Day as the primary focus for national and international awareness-raising efforts.
"Despite the huge disease burden and death toll, viral hepatitis has never before been comprehensively addressed by the global community" commented Charles Gore, President of the World Hepatitis Alliance.
Liver Foundation of Bangladesh urges government to support the adoption of an urgently needed World Health Organisation (WHO) resolution on viral hepatitis, being debated during the 63rd World Health Assembly, in scheduled to be held from 17-21 May 2010 at Geneva.
Professor Mohammad Ali, Secretary General of Liver Foundation and member of the World Hepatitis Alliance Public Health Panel opined that much more can be done to reduce the overwhelming effects of viral hepatitis B and C. A combined approach by world governments is the most effective way to deliver viral hepatitis prevention and control programmes.
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