WHO Consideres Hepatitis Could Be Eliminated by 2030
World Health Organization (WHO) said that hepatitis could be eliminated by the year 2030 by improving the level of testing, preventative care and treatment of the disease. More than 320 million people were infected with Hepatitis B and C and 1. 34 million of them died in 2015 year, as WHO reported.
WHO is calling all the countries to reduce the number of new diagnosed illnesses by 90% and mortality because of hepatitis virus by 65% in 13 years. Countries should invest more funds to provide the medical facilities with all the necessary medications, tests and equipment. For example, Hepatitis B virus, mostly widespread in the African and Western Pacific regions, could be prevented by well-timed vaccination.
“Then we saw the revolution. New drugs came on the market that are really fantastic drugs," Hirnschall noted. "They have very limited side effects. You only have to take them for three months and 95 percent of people are cured. And, even those who are not cured in the first round, we now have even alternatives that we can provide to those.” - said Gottfried Hirnschall, the director of the WHO Department of HIV Global Hepatitis Program about hepatitis C virus treatment. Before new treatment was found about 400 000 people every year passed away because of hepatitis C infection.