World Health Organization (WHO) has said that people must learn how to prevent hepatitis because infections caused by the five distinct hepatitis viruses are causing about 1.45 million deaths worldwide.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General said this during a briefing.
Dujarric said “Hepatitis B and C together alone cause approximately 80 percent of all liver cancer deaths and kill close to 1.4 million people every year.
“Infection through all routes of transmission can be prevented through proven and effective interventions.
“It calls on everyone to be aware of hepatitis and to learn how they can protect themselves from being infected.”
July 28 was chosen for World Hepatitis Day in honour of the birthday of Nobel Laureate Professor Baruch Samuel Blumberg, discoverer of the hepatitis B virus and developer of the first hepatitis B vaccine.