WHO Calls On The World To Fight Hepatitis

WHO calls on the world to fight hepatitis

In 2015, more than 70 million people lived with hepatitis C in the world, more than 250 million with hepatitis B.

The World Health Organization has published new data on the situation with hepatitis B and C. Experts say that the whole world needs to unite to fight viral hepatitis, as of the approximately 325 million patients, most are not receiving the necessary therapy. In total, according to WHO, 1.34 million patients died in 2015, which is comparable to mortality from HIV and tuberculosis with one difference - if the number of deaths from these two diseases is decreasing, then people are dying from hepatitis more often. During the same 2015, 1.75 million people contracted viral hepatitis. In 2015, more than 70 million people lived with hepatitis C in the world, more than 250 million with hepatitis B. Thanks to vaccination, it was possible to reduce the number of infections among children under 5 years of age - if before the introduction of vaccination they got sick in 4.7% of cases,now this share has decreased to 1.3%.

Hepatitis C, as reported by the WHO, is most commonly transmitted by injection. Most of the patients with this type of viral hepatitis live in the Eastern Mediterranean (15 million). Hepatitis B is most common in the Western Pacific Region (115 million patients). The organization's employees have prepared the "Global strategy for the health sector on viral hepatitis", under which they plan to screen 90% of patients by 2030 and ensure access to treatment in 80% of cases of infection. At the same time, in 2015, only 9% of patients with hepatitis B and 20% of patients with hepatitis C were diagnosed, and only 7-8% of those who received the diagnosis started receiving therapy.