Latest news with #hepatitisB
Time of India
a day ago
- Health
- Time of India
Urgent Need for Action on Hepatitis: Experts
New Delhi: Only 3 per cent of hepatitis B patients in India are aware of their condition, and less than 1 per cent of eligible individuals receive antiviral treatment. "These are not just statistics—they reflect a silent public health crisis that demands immediate, coordinated action,' said Rajesh Bhushan, Former Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Chairperson, Illness to Wellness Foundation , during his keynote address at the 'Illness to Wellness' Awareness Conference held in New Delhi on World Hepatitis Day. Organised by the Illness to Wellness Foundation, the conference was held under the theme 'Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment for Hepatitis'. It brought together leading medical professionals, public health advocates, and policymakers to discuss India's rising hepatitis burden and the need for stronger policy, better access, and increased public awareness. Bhushan identified five urgent priorities- Expanded screening and surveillance, Timely administration of the hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine, Decentralised access to treatment, Community-level awareness campaigns, Use of real-time data to drive interventions. He also emphasised the importance of collaborative action. 'Strategic interventions must be led not just by the government but through partnerships with civil society, the private sector, healthcare professionals, and the medical community,' he said. The conference served as a platform to call for coordinated national efforts to tackle hepatitis and move closer to elimination targets. In his welcome address, Anil Rajput, Chairperson, Advisory Council, Illness to Wellness foundation, said, 'This year's World Hepatitis Day theme, 'Hepatitis: Let's Break It Down,' is a powerful reminder that the fight against hepatitis requires a holistic, multi-dimensional approach that addresses the social, economic, and systemic roots of the disease.' During the session, health experts highlighted alarming global data that only 45% of new-borns receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, which is a critical gap in prevention. They also emphasised that WHO's 2030 target to eliminate hepatitis, which calls for a 90% reduction in new infections and 80% treatment coverage, hinges on several key strategies: universal vaccination, timely diagnosis, people-centred care, and widespread public awareness to combat stigma. The conference concluded with a call to action: to break the silence, scale the response, and build a hepatitis-free Bharat by 2030.
Time of India
a day ago
- Health
- Time of India
Hepatitis services must be scaled up, included in essential health packages: WHO official
New Delhi: Hepatitis testing and treatment services must be scaled up and decentralised to primary care, and services related to the infection should be embedded within essential health packages, Dr Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge of WHO South-East Asia, said on Monday. Speaking on World Hepatitis Day , which is observed on July 28 every year, Boehme said hepatitis must prioritise responses with maternal and child health, among others, and work towards reducing the toll of liver cancer due to hepatitis B and hepatitis C . "We have the tools to prevent these infections: safe and effective hepatitis B vaccines, affordable diagnostics, highly effective hepatitis B medicines, and the game-changing hepatitis C direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medicines that cure the infection," she said. "However, problems persist with the complexity and fragmentation in service delivery, lack of services at primary healthcare clinics, poor uptake of services, out-of-pocket expenses, limited awareness, and stigma," Boehme added. World Hepatitis Day raises awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes severe liver disease and liver cancer. It is observed on the birthday of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr Baruch Blumberg, who discovered the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and developed a diagnostic test and vaccine for the virus. This year, the theme 'Hepatitis: Let's Break It Down' calls for urgent action to dismantle the financial, social and systemic barriers, including the stigma attached to the infection, that stand in the way of hepatitis elimination and liver cancer prevention . Boehme said, "In our WHO South-East Asia region, viral hepatitis continues to cause needless suffering, silently leading to liver disease, cancer, and hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year." Across the region, an estimated 61 million people live with hepatitis B, and 9 million with hepatitis C. "Our region bears one of the highest burdens of chronic viral hepatitis globally, yet most people living with the disease remain undiagnosed and untreated," she said. She said every year, over 2,60,000 lives are lost, many due to preventable complications of hepatitis and one of the most devastating outcomes is liver cancer, because of untreated hepatitis B and C infections. "With limited access to early diagnosis and treatment, most liver cancer cases in our region are detected late, when curative options are no longer viable," Boehme said. She said hepatitis testing and treatment services must be "scaled up, decentralised to primary care", and guidelines simplified, to reduce the toll of liver cancer due to hepatitis B and C. "We must embed hepatitis services within essential health packages, leverage primary health care platforms, and align responses with maternal and child health, HIV, STIs, TB, non-communicable diseases, blood safety, infection prevention and control, occupational health and universal health coverage efforts. "We have to prioritise hepatitis B birth-dose and completion of the vaccination schedule, integrated safe motherhood services, harm reduction services, and community-based outreach to close the equity gap," she said. Boehme said progress was possible and countries across our region are innovating, including adopting simplified testing and treatment service models, integrating hepatitis as part of essential services and under social health insurance coverage. "These efforts need to be scaled and sustained with strong political will and investment. Together, let's break it down by removing the complexity, ending the silence, and delivering on our promise to eliminate hepatitis by 2030," she said.
Time of India
a day ago
- Health
- Time of India
AIIMS experts advocate for robust data, surveillance in India's hepatitis elimination plan
New Delhi: India's hepatitis elimination strategy must prioritise the generation of robust epidemiological data, strengthening integrated surveillance systems, universal access to diagnostics and antivirals and active engagement by the private health sector, said AIIMS experts . In an editorial, 'Hepatitis B virus prevalence in India: A wake-up call for action,' doctors highlighted that despite decades of interventions, HBV remains prevalent, and the progress toward elimination remains slow. According to them, harnessing the momentum of telemedicine expansion initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with decentralised healthcare delivery models, availability of generic antivirals and the use of artificial intelligence for patient management, could significantly enhance hepatitis B virus (HBV) care. The editorial by AIIMS doctors - Dr Shekhar Swaroop and Dr Shalimar of the Department of Gastroenterology and Dr Subrat Kumar Acharya, former HoD of the same department and presently serving as the pro-chancellor at the KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, was published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology in June this year. "As the world's most populous nation and a key player in global health, India must prioritise viral hepatitis as a central component of its public health strategy, not only to meet WHO targets, but to protect future generations from this entirely preventable disease," the doctors stated. According to the Global Hepatitis Report 2024, approximately 29.8 million individuals in India were estimated to be living with HBV infection in 2022. The HBV ranked as the third most common cause for cirrhosis, after alcohol and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. The HBV accounted for approximately 98,305 deaths in India in 2022, reflecting a significant disease burden. Chronic HBV infection confers an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and approximately 25 per cent of these individuals will develop HCC during their lifetime. Additionally, HBV reactivation is an acute precipitant of acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) in around 15% of the patients globally and in 7.7 per cent in South-East Asia, according to a recent meta-analysis, the editorial said. To address this challenge, India launched the National Viral Hepatitis Control Program (NVHCP) in 2018, aiming to reduce the incidence, morbidity and mortality of HBV. Initiatives under this programme include hepatitis B vaccination, universal screening of donated blood and interventions for preventing mother-to-child transmission. "While significant progress has been made, particularly with third-dose hepatitis B vaccine coverage reaching approximately 93% in 2023 and the proportion of children aged 12-23 months receiving all three doses improving from 62.8 per cent (NFHS-4) to 83.9 per cent (NFHS-5), critical gaps still remain," the editorial pointed out. Birth dose vaccination coverage stands at 63 per cent, while the diagnosis rate is 2.4 per cent and treatment coverage rate 0.0 per cent. These figures underscore significant deficiencies in the current response and highlight urgent areas requiring improvement, the doctors stated. Accurate prevalence estimates are essential for guiding public health strategies and resource allocation. In this context, the recent community-based prevalence study by Rajalatchumi et al. from Puducherry represents a valuable contribution. The researchers invited all adults from four villages of rural Puducherry for HbsAg testing, achieving a commendable 94 per cent participation rate. The study found an adjusted prevalence of 2.5 per cent after adjusting for the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic test, higher than the NFHS-4 estimate. Interestingly, younger individuals showed a higher infection rate, and blood transfusion remained a risk factor, suggesting ongoing gaps in infection control and awareness, the doctors stated. When compared to a 2013 study from the same region, which reported a prevalence of 2.96 per cent, there was little change over the past decade, pointing to significant gaps in public health strategies and infection control measures, they stated. Despite methodological strengths, the study's generalisability is limited by regional heterogeneity across socio-economic status, transmission risk factors and healthcare access. Nevertheless, this study is a timely and very relevant reminder of the persistent burden of HBV in India, the doctors said. "Despite decades of interventions, HBV remains prevalent and the progress toward elimination remains slow. This is further hindered by limited public awareness, the absence of mandatory screening protocols and limited linkage to care," they said, adding nationally representative population-based surveys are rare and existing surveillance systems remain fragmented and under-resourced. PTI
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Millions in Europe unknowingly living with hepatitis, health authorities warn
Millions of people across Europe are living with hepatitis B or C without knowing it, putting them at serious risk of liver disease and cancer, public health authorities have warned. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a new report that around five million people in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are living with chronic hepatitis B or C – but the majority are undiagnosed and untreated. Often referred to as 'silent infections', hepatitis B and C can live undetected in the body for years, slowly damaging the liver until symptoms appear in the form of liver fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis, or cancer. The virus is typically spread through contact with infected blood or bodily fluids, including through unprotected sex or shared drug equipment. The report estimates that 3.2 million people in the region are infected with hepatitis B, and 1.8 million have hepatitis C. Together, these viruses are linked to roughly 50,000 deaths every year. Related 'I was scared': Half of Europeans living with hepatitis struggle to tell others about diagnosis Hepatitis A is spreading rapidly in the Czech Republic with 6 deaths so far. Here's what we know 'We must underline the critical importance of scaling up efforts to prevent and control viral hepatitis," Dr Marieke van der Werf, the head of the ECDC's section on blood-borne viruses and tuberculosis, said in a statement. She said access to vaccination, testing, and medical care for infected people "are essential for a healthier, more resilient Europe". According to the ECDC, more than 65 per cent of those with hepatitis B and 62 per cent of those with hepatitis C are still undiagnosed. Hepatitis C can be cured with a short course of highly effective antiviral medications. While hepatitis B cannot currently be cured, it can be managed with long-term treatment that helps suppress the virus and reduce the risk of liver damage. Meanwhile, hepatitis A, which spreads via infected stool, is an acute infection that typically resolves on its own. Globally, chronic viral hepatitis causes an estimated 1.3 million deaths each year. That's around 3,500 deaths every day, putting it on par with tuberculosis (TB). The World Health Organization says 2.8 million of these deaths could be prevented by 2030, and has called on governments to embed hepatitis screening and treatment into primary healthcare, especially for vulnerable and high-risk communities.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Millions in Europe unknowingly living with hepatitis, health authorities warn
Millions of people across Europe are living with hepatitis B or C without knowing it, putting them at serious risk of liver disease and cancer, public health authorities have warned. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a new report that around five million people in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are living with chronic hepatitis B or C – but the majority are undiagnosed and untreated. Often referred to as 'silent infections', hepatitis B and C can live undetected in the body for years, slowly damaging the liver until symptoms appear in the form of liver fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis, or cancer. The virus is typically spread through contact with infected blood or bodily fluids, including through unprotected sex or shared drug equipment. The report estimates that 3.2 million people in the region are infected with hepatitis B, and 1.8 million have hepatitis C. Together, these viruses are linked to roughly 50,000 deaths every year. Related 'I was scared': Half of Europeans living with hepatitis struggle to tell others about diagnosis Hepatitis A is spreading rapidly in the Czech Republic with 6 deaths so far. Here's what we know 'We must underline the critical importance of scaling up efforts to prevent and control viral hepatitis," Dr Marieke van der Werf, the head of the ECDC's section on blood-borne viruses and tuberculosis, said in a statement. She said access to vaccination, testing, and medical care for infected people "are essential for a healthier, more resilient Europe". According to the ECDC, more than 65 per cent of those with hepatitis B and 62 per cent of those with hepatitis C are still undiagnosed. Hepatitis C can be cured with a short course of highly effective antiviral medications. While hepatitis B cannot currently be cured, it can be managed with long-term treatment that helps suppress the virus and reduce the risk of liver damage. Meanwhile, hepatitis A, which spreads via infected stool, is an acute infection that typically resolves on its own. Globally, chronic viral hepatitis causes an estimated 1.3 million deaths each year. That's around 3,500 deaths every day, putting it on par with tuberculosis (TB). The World Health Organization says 2.8 million of these deaths could be prevented by 2030, and has called on governments to embed hepatitis screening and treatment into primary healthcare, especially for vulnerable and high-risk communities.
