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UN: 325 million people worldwide suffer from hepatitis B and C
21.04.2017 14:36 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
Over 325 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis B or C virus, which can seriously damage the liver, and most sufferers do not get the life-saving help they need, , UN Radio says referring to the UN health experts’ today report.
Thus, Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of WHO’s Department of HIV and the Global Hepatitis Programme, said it is striking that these people remain untreated, and so many of them will suffer from long-term and life-threatening consequences, specifically cirrhosis and liver cancer, and again, many of those will lead to death.
In meanwhile, the agency Global Hepatitis Report 2017 says over 1.3 million died worldwide from viral hepatitis within 2015 - a number on a par with deaths from tuberculosis and HIV.
But unlike TB and HIV, where mortality rates are declining, hepatitis deaths are on the rise.
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As to the report, Dr Margaret Chan, Head of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that this treatment gap requires an urgent response from the international community.
It is to be admitted, hepatitis B levels are highest in Africa and the Western Pacific regions, affecting around 6% of the population.
Hepatitis C is most common in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where the infection rate is more than two people in every 100.
As to the report, by 2030, WHO wants to test and treat the vast majority of people for hepatitis B and C.
Today, diagnosis and treatment rates are as low as 7%.
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