Hepatitis B and C infections cause 3,500 people to die every day globally and the number continues to grow, with 6,000 new people infected with the disease every day, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Tuesday.
“Combined, hepatitis B and C cause 3,500 deaths per day and the number continues to rise,” writes the WHO Global Hepatitis Report.
It is estimated that 254 million people live with hepatitis B and 50 million people live with hepatitis C worldwide and 6,000 new people are infected with the hepatitis virus every day, as quoted.
The number of deaths from viral hepatitis rose to 1.3 million in 2022 compared with 1.1 million deaths in 2019, according to the report citing new data from 187 countries.
Hepatitis B caused 83 percent of deaths and hepatitis C accounted for 17 percent. On the other hand, it is estimated that the number of new hepatitis infections “will decrease from 2.5 million in 2019 to 2.2 million in 2022.”
The Western Pacific region reported the largest number of people suffering from hepatitis B and C, namely 103.9 million people, followed by 72.5 million people in Africa and 70.5 million people in Southeast Asia.
The report states that ten countries, namely Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia and Vietnam, account for almost two-thirds of the number of hepatitis B and C viruses worldwide.
WHO points to a number of obstacles in efforts to eradicate the disease, including the number of people who have not been diagnosed, the low number of people receiving treatment, difficulties with access, limited funds and babies not receiving hepatitis vaccines, even though medicines are “available at affordable prices”.
Source: Sputnik
This news was published on Antaranews.com with the title: WHO: Hepatitis virus causes 3,500 people to die every day
Editor : Debby H. Hand
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2024-04-09 19:32:19
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