POST 01268E: SHOULD HEPATITIS REDUCTION BE INCLUDED AMONG TH

POST 01268E: WORLD HEPATITIS DAY 19 MAY 2008 ******************************************* Chronic viral hepatitis can no longer be ignored. The figures are rather staggering. Take a look at the statistics: Ø 500 million people worldwide currently infected with hepatitis B or C Ø This is over 10 times the number infected with HIV/AIDS Ø Hepatitis B and C kill 1.5 million people a year Ø One in every three people on the planet has been exposed to either or both viruses Ø Most of the 500 million infected do not know Until now hepatitis has not had an awareness day, though approximately 500 million people the world over live with the disease and it kills around 1.5 million people a year. Creating awareness becomes an important step in reducing a preventable death toll. World hepatitis day is being held today (May 19). It is an entirely patient-led initiative. The organizers are the World Hepatitis Alliance, which is a newly established NGO, representing more than 200 hepatitis B and C patient groups from around the world. The NGO is governed by a representative board of patient groups from seven world regions. To get people talking about the disease, three weeks ahead of the awareness day, a sign-up campaign--aminumber12? (one in every 12 persons is infected with hepatitis)--was initiated. The campaign has already kicked off in 64 countries. Charles Gore, president of the Alliance, hoped that through the campaign and activities hepatitis B and C would be placed “firmly on the global healthcare agenda" and come to be included among the MDGs. You can show support for the campaign by signing up to http://www.aminumber12.org. If TechNet subscribers have relevant information to share, please do send it to the moderator. Thank you. ------ Related reading/reference material/websites: For more information on the hepatitis awareness activities visit: http://www.worldhepatitisday.com The Lancet Editorial: A dozen good ideas to battle hepatitis: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608606996/fulltext http://www.who.int/topics/hepatitis/en/ http://www.who.int/csr/disease/hepatitis/en/ http://www.vhpb.org/ http://www.heplinks.com/index.php?id=5 (your guide to hepatitis websites) http://www.arabianbusiness.com/518377-global-groups-slam-hep-c-ban http://www.hepfi.org/news/index.htm Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)