NEW DELHI: India has reaffirmed its commitment to combating viral Hepatitis and eliminating Hepatitis B and C as public threats by 2030.
Addressing a side-event at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 81), Union Health Secretary, Punya Salila Srivastava, said, “Reaffirming India’s commitment to the 2030 SDG Agenda on combating hepatitis and the global goal of eliminating Hepatitis B and C as public health threats by 2030.”
She highlighted India’s comprehensive, people-centred response across prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and care.
“India has strengthened interventions across the continuum - from antenatal screening and Hepatitis B immunisation to free diagnosis and treatment, safe blood transfusion services, and counselling and rehabilitation support for people who inject drugs,” she said at the session “Advancing Global Action to Eliminate Hepatitis” organised by the UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis.
She further said that the scale of these efforts is reflected in the numbers.
More than 225 million beneficiaries have been screened, while over 6,52,000 patients have received free treatment.
Srivastava emphasised the importance of sustained global cooperation, equitable access to prevention, testing and treatment, and stronger health systems to accelerate progress towards the 2030 targets.
“India remains committed to advancing coordinated, accessible and equitable action to combat viral hepatitis and contribute to its elimination as a public health threat by 2030,” she added.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is caused by a variety of infectious viruses and non-infectious agents leading to a range of health problems, including severe liver damage and cancer, some of which can be fatal.
There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), types B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and viral hepatitis-related deaths. They are among the main infectious disease killers, causing an estimated 1.3 million deaths per year.
Hepatitis has been recognised as a public health problem in India. In 2018, the union government launched the National Viral Hepatitis Program to combat this disease by providing screening and treatment services.
This is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of combating various viral diseases.
According to India's 2021 HIV Sentinel Surveillance data, about 0.85% of people tested positive for Hepatitis B and 0.29% for Hepatitis C - roughly 1 in 118 and 1 in 345 people, respectively.
As per WHO, an estimated 304 million people worldwide live with hepatitis B or C, and for most, testing and treatment remain beyond reach.
