By Ahmid Lawal Abuja
World Hepatitis Day is being celebrated every year on July 28 to create awareness globally among the common people about the disease condition. It is the world level awareness programme launched as a global public health campaign by the World Health Organisation to make the world a hepatitis free world. Earlier, it was being celebrated as an international Hepatitis C Awareness day by the patient groups of European and Middle Eastern regions on October 1, in 2004; however, in some regions it was mark as a hepatitis day on diff erent dates. In order to make this a best awareness campaign in 2008, the World Hepatitis Alliance has declared May 19, as the fi rst World Hepatitis Day in association with the patient groups. However, the date was changed to July 28, after the adoption of earlier declaration in the 63rd World Health Assembly in the month of May 2010.
It was titled as the World Hepatitis Day focusing to raise the awareness on national and international level through great eff orts. July 28, was declared as the fi nal date for the celebration of World Hepatitis Day globally to honor the “Nobel Laureate Baruch Samuel Blumberg” on his birthday anniversary (28th of July) as he discovered the hepatitis B virus. World Hepatitis Day was established to be celebrated on July 28, in order to expand the educational areas as well as provide opportunities to new generations to get better understandings about viral hepatitis to enhance global public health by solving problems.
It is being celebrating very actively in more than 100 countries worldwide by organising lots of eff ective activities. Hepatitis is the liver infection and infl ammation caused by the virus; fi ve types of the hepatitis have been detected caused by diff erent viruses and named as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. More than 1.5 million people die every year because of this dangerous disease whereas 4.4 million Americans live with the infection of this chronic hepatitis. Hepatitis B is most common problem caused in many regions of the world, especially in the Asian and African countries.
