WHO: Boost drive vs hepa B

MANILA, Philippines - Four years before the goal of achieving less than one percent infection rate of hepatitis B in children, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to intensify their comprehensive control efforts against the liver disease.

According to WHO regional director for Western Pacific Shin Young-soo, the region has the highest rates of chronic hepatitis B infection in the world, causing some 890 deaths every day.

Except Australia, Japan and New Zealand where chronic hepatitis B infection rate varies from two to four percent, countries in the region have rates of five percent or more.

“The fight against hepatitis is a public health priority. Governments and health authorities must scale up successful interventions, develop new approaches and mobilize all resources necessary to adequately address the burden and challenges caused by hepatitis,” Shin said.

Viral hepatitis is a group of infectious diseases causing inflammation of the liver. There are five main types of hepatitis virus – A, B, C, D and E – which affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Some of these hepatitis viruses, most notably types B and C, can also lead to chronic and debilitating illnesses. An estimated 500 million people have hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus.

Around 1.4 million people die each year, accounting for 2.7 percent of all deaths from causes related to viral hepatitis, most commonly cirrhosis and liver cancer.

An estimated 57 percent of cases of liver cirrhosis and 78 percent of cases of primary liver cancer result from hepatitis B or C virus infection.

Hepatitis B virus is one of the most potent causes of liver cancer, with 25 percent of persons with chronic hepatitis B infection dying prematurely from liver cancer or cirrhosis.

WHO noted that in the Western Pacific, most chronic hepatitis B infections are acquired during birth or early childhood. This, however, can be prevented by vaccination at birth followed by at least two more doses.

The region achieved an 85-percent increase in vaccination at birth and a 90-percent increase in three-dose coverage from 1990–2011.

It is estimated that timely vaccination at birth should reach 90 percent and three-dose coverage should reach 95 percent for a country to reduce chronic hepatitis B infection rates in children to less than one percent.

WHO also said that 30 of the 37 countries in the region are estimated to have reduced chronic hepatitis B in children to less than two percent, which was a “regional milestone for 2012.”              – With Alexis Romero