World Hepatitis Day: Odisha CM Pledges to Spread Awareness about Prevention of Hepatitis

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has pledged to spread awareness about prevention of Hepatitis on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day today.

“On this World Hepatitis Day, let us pledge to spread awareness about prevention of Hepatitis and scale up access to diagnostics and treatment to meet the global goal of eliminating the fatal disease”, the CM tweeted.

On this #WorldHepatitisDay, let us pledge to spread awareness about prevention of Hepatitis and scale up access to diagnostics and treatment to meet the global goal of eliminating the fatal disease pic.twitter.com/U4b5mQxzNA

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) July 28, 2019

Hepatitis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.34 million people every year.

Hepatitis is preventable, treatable, and in the case of hepatitis C, curable. However, over 80% of people living with hepatitis are lacking prevention, testing and treatment services, the WHO said.

During World Hepatitis Day 2019 campaign, WHO is urging all countries and partners to promote the theme “Invest in eliminating hepatitis”.