We need a roadmap to contain viral hepatitis
Another World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 globally, has come and gone. What it has revealed is that a shocking number of nearly 2.50 lakh people succumb annually to viral hepatitis in India alone — accounting for almost one in every 12 people worldwide. Horrifying as these figures are, they do not come as a surprise given the other equally appalling and embarrassing truth that the Government, despite the high incidence of hepatitis-induced deaths, has neither a national policy nor has set itself an agenda to eliminate the deadly strains of hepatitis in the country. “Not much has been done by India to check this silent killer”, says a recently released report of the World Health Organisation.
The policy-paralysis is evident from the authorities' lackadaisical approach to thwart this silent killer. The growing incidence of hepatitis or liver inflammation is a major public health concern; an alarming four lakh people are living with the deadly virus and are none the wiser. This also points to a lack of awareness about the disease and the near zero effort that has been made to educate the people about it. Indeed, the Government's failure to initiate steps to prevent the hepatitis viral infection and ensure proper treatment facilities is perhaps one of the reasons that account for the disease going viral in India. Reportedly, there is neither routine surveillance to track down cases of hepatitis, nor a system in place where patient data is easily available and deaths due to hepatitis are reported and recorded.
Also, sincere efforts to tackle the problem are let down by inadequate infrastructure to support investigation of viral hepatitis outbreaks or conduct surveys regularly. WHO's ‘Global policy report on prevention and control of viral Hepatitis' says as much. It has rapped the Government for its failure to collaborate with civil society groups to develop and implement a prevention and control programme and for failing to raise awareness about the disease. The state needed only to draw inspiration from its past efforts in the case of its much appreciated and successful polio eradication programme, or the AIDS awareness drives that went a long way in bringing the incidence of these diseases down. It needs to put in place measures to control hepatitis B and C, the most virulent of the strains, on similar lines, and increase the coverage of the hepatitis immunisation programme under the National Health Mission.
Experts rue that unlike the hype surrounding the HIV/AIDS prevention drive, scant effort has been made to spread awareness on various strains of hepatitis. While most of the developed and developing nations have already put in place an effective vaccination plan, the lack of awareness in India has meant that at least 60 per cent of the people are diagnosed at a stage when the disease has firmly taken roots. There are genuine concerns that by 2050, the country may acquire the dubious distinction of being the hepatitis B capital of the world.