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WHO to mark World Hepatitis Day under theme of “Hepatitis-free future”
The World Health Organization (WHO) will mark the 2020 World Hepatitis Day on 28 July under the theme of “Hepatitis-free future” which will focus on preventing Hepatitis B (HBV) among mothers and newborns.
On 28 July, the WHO will publish new recommendations on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus. HBV can be prevented among newborns through the use of safe and effective vaccines.
HBV prevalence is highest in the WHO Western Pacific Region and the WHO African Region, where 6.2% and 6.1% of the adult population is infected respectively. In the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, the WHO South-East Asia Region and the WHO European Region, an estimated 3.3%, 2.0% and 1.6% of the general population is infected, respectively. And in the WHO Region of the Americas, 0.7% of the population is infected.
In highly endemic areas, HBV is most commonly spread from mother to child at birth (perinatal transmission), or through horizontal transmission (exposure to infected blood), especially from an infected child to an uninfected child during the first 5 years of life. The development of chronic infection is very common in infants infected from their mothers or before the age of 5 years.
Children less than 6 years of age who become infected with the hepatitis B virus are the most likely to develop chronic infections.
About 80–9 percent of infants infected during the first year of life develop chronic infections; and 30–50 percent of children infected before the age of 6 years develop chronic infections.
The World Hepatitis Day will also seek to enhance awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes a range of health problems, including liver cancer.
There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus – A, B, C, D and E. Together, Hepatitis B and C are the most common cause of deaths, with 1.4 million lives lost each year. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, viral hepatitis continues to claim thousands of lives every day.
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