On the eve of World Hepatitis Day, various organizations have urged the government to raise awareness about hepatitis all across the Asia Pacific. It has been reported that the Asia Pacific is the most targeted area for the spread and growth of hepatitis. Every year about 12 people are diagnosed with it and most of the cases come from Asia.

It has been reported that China and India together have an estimated 123 million people chronically infected with Hepatitis B and 59 million people chronically infected with Hepatitis C, which accounts for almost 50% of all infections worldwide. However, in Southeast Asia, the overall prevalence of chronic Hepatitis B infection is also high. For Hepatitis C, it is estimated that 2-3% of world population carries the Hepatitis C virus.

Compared with other life-threatening diseases like HIV/AIDS and Cancer, hepatitis lacks the same level of awareness. Although the 28th of July was marked as an important day for the organizations running campaign against hepatitis, the same day was celebrated as Professor Baruch Blumberg’s birthday. Professor Baruch Blumberg won Nobel Prize in 1976 for his discovery of the virus that causes Hepatitis B.

This is for the first time when the World Hepatitis Day is celebrated as a result of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Resolution on Viral Hepatitis on 21 May, 2010.