United Nations Marks World Hepatitis Day

On July 28, the United Nations marked World Hepatitis Day, taking a stand for the first time to raise awareness of a disease that affects one in three people on Earth.

Approximately 500 million people are infected with some form of hepatitis, and most of them, said Dr. Steven Wiersma of the World Health Organization, “have no idea that they are infected.”

The main danger of hepatitis lies in its undetectability without medical tests. If left untreated, it can develop into a life-threatening illness, or exacerbate other medical conditions.

The United Nations and its global health arm, the WHO, call for increased numbers of vaccinations for applicable hepatitis strains, better blood screening procedures, and a commitment to sterile equipment in medical facilities.

There are five strains of the hepatitis virus. As the majority of overall hepatitis cases, Hepatitis B affects about 2 billion people worldwide; an estimated 600,000 die each year of the disease. Methods of transmission include unsafe injection practices, blood transfusions, sexual contact, and transference from mother to child at birth. It is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, but is preventable by a vaccine.

Another category of hepatitis viruses includes those transmitted by poor sanitation. About 1.4 million cases of Hepatitis A occur annually; this strain is associated with inadequate sanitation and personal hygiene.  Hepatitis E is, like A, transmitted through contamination of food or water. Hepatitis A remains a leading cause of disease in developing countries. Although vaccines have been developed to prevent it, they are not widely accessible.

The World Hepatitis Alliance has been marking World Hepatitis Day since 2008, but this is the first time that the UN and WHO have been involved in the effort. The organizations have compiled a global media blast of posters, radio and television spots, and social media information campaigns.

“World Hepatitis Day is set aside to help with the awareness building,” said Weirsma. “We need to make people aware that these are incredibly common infections that infect people everywhere. And there is a lot that we can do about them now.”

The campaign’s theme—“Know it, confront it. Hepatitis affects everyone, everywhere”—is intended to draw attention to the fact that 2 billion people are infected with the virus, and it causes 1 million deaths a year. Improved global health begins with international awareness.