SIUT plans events to observe World Hepatitis Day

The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) has chalked out an elaborate programme to commemorate World Hepatitis Day 2018 here on Friday.

The current year’s theme for the day is ‘Eliminate Hepatitis’. The SIUT has invited people in general to attend free medical camps and an education session arranged to mark the occasion.

According to organisers, special arrangements have also been made to vaccinate people against strains of the disease that could be prevented through immunisation. Experts would also be around to provide needed advise and guidance to the people, besides offering needed tests.

The event holds particular relevance for the local population as incidence rate of both waterborne hepatitis (A and D) as well as of blood-borne (Hepatitis B and C) are increasingly registered among the people.

The disease mainly a preventable health condition is reported to be caused due to consumption of contaminated water and infected-blood. —APP

News Desk adds: Pakistan has the world’s second highest prevalence of hepatitis C, second only to Egypt. A survey done in 2007 found that close to 7% of people in the province of Punjab had hepatitis C, while around 5% of people were infected in the entire country.

"The high prevalence of hepatitis is due to many factors in both health care settings and in the community," says Dr Saeed Akhter, President of the PKLI. “This includes use of dirty syringes, failure to screen blood before transfusion, use of unhygienic dental instruments, reuse of razor blades by barbers and poor infrastructure for infectious waste disposal."

Hepatitis C is a bloodborne virus that can cause liver disease that ranges from a short, mild illness to a serious, lifelong condition. WHO estimates that approximately 71 million people worldwide have chronic hepatitis C infection and around 400 000 people die every year from it, mostly from cirrhosis or liver cancer. While there is no vaccine against hepatitis C, antiviral medicines can cure more than 95% of people with the disease.

Unsafe injections play a major role in transmitting hepatitis C. The Government of Punjab is the first province in Pakistan to address this issue by introducing a policy to ensure that 90 % of all syringes used in the health sector are auto-disable, meaning that they cannot be used more than once. In addition, it has launched a programme to improve infectious waste control that includes building 39 incinerators in health facilities.

"The 2015 WHO Guidelines on Injection Safety recommend that all countries should switch to exclusive use of safety-engineered syringes," says Dr Arshad Altaf, injection safety expert at WHO. "The policy switch in Punjab province is a step in the right direction and will play a key role in preventing reuse of syringes, a major risk factor in transmitting hepatitis C."