De Castro told the delegates to the 3rd Hepa B Summit that was recently held at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati, that at least eight million Filipinos are infected with the hepatitis B virus, which could cause liver cancer. He said health statistics also show that about 7,000 Filipinos have been found to have liver cancer, likely due to hepatitis B.
"Let our fight against hepa B proceed on full steam. Our action should be driven by a sense of urgency of the highest level," said De Castro, sharing his painful experience of losing his father to liver cancer and his older brother to liver cirrhosis.
"Liver-cancer patients can hope to fight for their lives for three months, but less than six percent of patients survive for five years, and nobody is expected to last beyond 10 years," he said.
"I should know," he said, recalling that his father died of liver cancer when he was still in the 5th grade in Pola, Oriental Mindoro. Recently, his older brother succumbed to liver cirrhosis.
De Castro said the spread of hepatitis B can be prevented by an aggressive implementation of the hepa-B immunization program.
"It is not only the lives of patients that are at stake, but also the life of the economy," he told doctors and other health workers attending the summit organized by several health organizations in collaboration with the Department of Health, World Health Organization, Medical Observer, and GlaxoSmithKline.