Today is World Hepatitis Day, bringing the world together under a single theme to raise awareness of the global burden of viral hepatitis and to influence real change.
In honor of this occasion, we'd like to take a moment to reflect on how much progress has been made since the first World Hepatitis Day in 2008. In 2008, there were an estimated 257 million people living with viral hepatitis worldwide—and many did not know they were infected. Since then, we have made significant strides in our understanding of viral hepatitis and how it affects people's lives.
But there is still much work to be done. In 2017 alone, over 600 million people were newly infected with hepatitis B or C—one new infection every 12 seconds. And every day, more than 800 people die from complications related to hepatitis B or C. This is why it's so important that we continue our efforts toward making this disease a thing of the past.
World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is recognized annually on July 28th, the birthday of Dr. Baruch Blumberg (1925–2011). Dr. Blumberg discovered the hepatitis B virus in 1967, and 2 years later he developed the first hepatitis B vaccine. These achievements culminated in Dr. Blumberg winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1976. Organizations around the world, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC, commemorate WHD to raise awareness about viral hepatitis, which impacts more than 354 million people worldwide. WHD creates an opportunity to educate people about the burden of these infections, the CDC’s efforts to combat viral hepatitis around the world, and actions people can take to prevent these infections.
Viral hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis D, and hepatitis E — affects millions of people worldwide, causing both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) liver disease. Viral hepatitis causes more than one million deaths each year. While deaths from tuberculosis and HIV have been declining, deaths from hepatitis are increasing.
Hepatitis is not one of those diseases that only affect certain demographics or specific regions in the world; you can get hepatitis anywhere. It’s estimated that about 400 million people are infected by hepatitis, worldwide. You can contract hepatitis through blood contact or sexual intercourse. A mother can pass it to her child. That’s why hepatitis can affect people in places where there's little information about the impact of unsafe sexual practices or drug abuse. Left untreated, hepatitis can lead to dangerous and sometimes, fatal liver diseases.
Here’s the good news: over the last 100 years, there’s been considerable progress in preventing and treating hepatitis. There are vaccines for both hepatitis A and B. At an early age, people in developing countries automatically get these vaccines from their doctors. Hepatitis C is easily treated and hepatitis D and E are rare.
But we still have a long way to go.
Almost 90% of the people who have contracted hepatitis don’t realize they’re infected. The World Hepatitis Alliance has set a challenging goal to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. With your help, it’s an achievable goal.
World Hepatitis Day makes it clear that every life matters, regardless of where you live or what you do. On this day, we can all take action in our own communities by supporting local initiatives, sharing information about viral hepatitis on social media, and encouraging our friends, family members, and colleagues to get tested for viral hepatitis and receive treatment if needed so that they can live their lives free from this disease.
Get tested on World Hepatitis Day because you may be unaware that you're infected. It’s a simple blood test that you can take at your doctor’s office or at your neighborhood health center. After you're tested, encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/awareness/worldhepday.htm