10 lakh newborn babies suffer from Hepatitis: AP Governor

VIJAYAWADA: Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan participated as Chief Guest in the conference organized on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day 2022 by the Indian Liver Patient Foundation (ILPF), Bhubaneswar, virtually from Raj Bhavan on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, Governor Harichandan said liver is the largest organ of the body and it is important to take necessary care and protect the organ from disease.

He said the World Hepatitis Day is celebrated on July 28 every year to create awareness on Hepatitis, a deadly disease and a silent killer. He said around 40 million Indians are suffering from Hepatitis- B and 10 million from Hepatitis-C as per statistics and Hepatitis-B, the most common disease is transferred from mother to child at birth and every year close to 10 lakhs new born children acquire this deadly infection at birth. Governor Harichandan has said that the government through its public health initiative has made the vaccine available at free of cost or at low cost under the Universal Immunisation Programme, so as to bring an end to this evil disease.

The World Health Organisation aims to achieve hepatitis elimination by 2030 with an campaign that says “we can’t wait to act on viral hepatitis” and ‘I can’t wait’ is the theme for the World Hepatitis Day 2022, highlighting the need to accelerate the fight against viral hepatitis, said the Governor. About 5000 delegates consisting of doctors, volunteers, students, parents, social activities and others from across the world participated in the Web Conference. He has appreciated the efforts of Dr. Ashok Choudhary, Founder, Dr. Madan Mohan Sethi, Consul General, Ho-chi-min Vietnam from Vietnam and countless volunteers and doctors, who have been striving hard to fight against the evil hepatitis disease and He lauded their campaign “Know Hepatitis - No hepatitis” to create awareness about the disease.