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The World Health Organization ( WHO ) estimates that 80% of people infected with hepatitis can not access the services they need. Governments are investing "urgently" in treatments to prevent and cure the disease.
On the eve of World Hepatitis Day, celebrated every July 28, the WHO released a new study in which it reveals that an inversion of about 6 billion dollars per year in 67 middle and low-income countries until 2030 would prevent more than 30 million deaths from this disease.
[Cada día se registran más de un millón de infecciones de transmisión badual, advierte OMS][¿Por qué el mundo está cerca de erradicar el VIH pero lejos de hallar una cura?]
"We call on countries to integrate into their universal health services to treat hepatitis and to fight against this disease," said the Director-General of the WHO , Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a statement.
Currently, about 325 million people live with the Type B or C hepatitis virus Chronic infections at the origin of Cirrhosis and liver cancer and responsible for 96% of deaths due to the disease.
In addition, each year, these two types of hepatitis directly cause 1.4 million deaths making it the most lethal infectious disease after tuberculosis.
People with hepatitis B and C may have no symptoms in years, but the liver is slowly and quietly damaging, which ultimately results in cancer. This makes this disease a "silent killer" " as noted by the Director General of of the WHO .
In fact, 60% of cases of liver cancer are due to late diagnosis of infections of hepatitis B and C and late access to treatment
According to the organization, during the last two decades, the deaths due to of hepatitis they increased ", which denotes a lack of awareness and action at the global level"
"However, it is possible and affordable to tackle this disease if the governments invested enough in the treatment of this disease and would lead in addition to a substantial economy of the health system, "added Tedros.
The organization notes that among the 194 countries that committed in 2016 to implement the goal of the WHO to eliminate hepatitis in 2030 only 124 are implementing concrete plans to combat this disease.
"This means that 40% of national plans lack dedicated budget lines to support efforts to eliminate hepatitis ," said Tedros. The most common way to contract hepatitis B is to transmit the mother to the child in childbirth or a family member to the child, by contact with infected blood and body fluids. For its part, hepatitis C is usually contracted intravenously, by blood transfusion, by exposure to contaminated blood products, by medical practices using infected material as well as by badual contact.
Hepatitis B can be prevented to 98% with vaccines, while if a person is positive to the treatment of hepatitis C by direct antiviral p can cure the disease in two or three months.
Therefore, WHO notes that "it is possible to do much to diagnose, treat and properly manage this disease".
Other types of Hepatitis (A and E) are less serious and do not pose a life-threatening risk, while D is a common additional infection in patients with hepatitis B.
Source: EFE
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