PARIS, July 29 (Benin News) –
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the world is facing an outbreak of hepatitis “of unknown origin” affecting children, and highlighted the “thousands of acute viral infections” of the disease that occur each year in children, adolescents and adults.
In this regard, the agency said it was working “side by side” with scientists and policy makers in the affected countries to try to understand the cause of this infection, which does not appear to correspond to any of the five known types of hepatitis. : A, B, C, D and E.
“For maximum effectiveness, hepatitis surveillance must be carried out at the community level through an effective primary health care system integrated with other health services that meet all health needs,” said the director. General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus.
Although most acute hepatitis causes mild symptoms and may go undetected, in some cases it can lead to complications and become fatal. For example, complications from acute hepatitis A and E infections caused an estimated 78,000 deaths worldwide in 2019 and, at the same time, global disease control efforts have prioritized the elimination of hepatitis-related infections. B, C and D.
Unlike acute viral hepatitis, these last three strains cause chronic hepatitis that lasts for decades and results in more than one million deaths per year from cirrhosis and liver cancer. In addition, they are responsible for more than 95% of deaths from hepatitis.
“Every 30 seconds, someone dies from hepatitis-related causes, such as liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer,” said Mr. Tedros, who pointed out that almost 80% of people living with disease do not have access to medical care or cannot afford to pay for their treatment.
To eliminate hepatitis by 2030, the UN health agency has called on countries to reduce new hepatitis B and C infections by 90%, reduce deaths from cirrhosis by 65% and liver cancer, diagnose at least 90% of hepatitis B and C cases and treat at least 80% of eligible people.
“Low coverage of testing and treatment is the most important gap to be closed to reach global eradication targets by 2030,” WHO said, urging governments to increase use of tools effective against disease.