World Hepatitis Day,
observed on July 28 every year, aims to
raise global awareness of
hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...
— a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis
A,
B,
C,
D, and
E — and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Hepatitis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.34 million people every year.
[World Health Organization]
World Hepatitis Day.
Accessed 8 April 2014. Hepatitis can cause inflammation of the liver both acutely and chronically, and can kill a person. In some countries hepatitis B is the most common cause of cirrhosis and may also cause liver cancer.
World Hepatitis Day is one of 11 official
global public health
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
campaigns marked by the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
(
WHO
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* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
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* World Health Organization
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), along with
World Health Day
World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as other related organizations.
In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly. ...
,
World Chagas Disease Day
World Chagas Disease Day is observed on April 14 to raise awareness around chagas disease. It was first celebrated on April 14, 2020, and was named after Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, the Brazilian doctor who diagnosed the first case on April ...
,
World Blood Donor Day
World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) is held on June 14 each year. The event was organised for the first time in 2005, by a joint initiative of the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to raise ...
,
World Malaria Day,
World Immunization Week
World Immunization Week is a global public health campaign to raise awareness and increase rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world. It takes place each year during the last week of April (24th - 30th).
Immuniz ...
,
World Tuberculosis Day
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,
World No Tobacco Day
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,
World Patient Safety Day
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, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired imm ...
.
Background
Hepatitis groups, patients and advocates worldwide take part in events on 28 July. Notably in 2012, a Guinness World Record was created when 12,588 people from 20 countries did the
Three Wise Monkeys
The three wise monkeys are a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The three monkeys are
* Mizaru, who sees no evil, covering his eyes
* Kikazaru, who hears no evil, covering ...
actions on World Hepatitis Day to signify the willful ignorance of the disease.
History
The inaugural International Hepatitis C Awareness day, coordinated by various European and Middle Eastern Patient Groups and Baby Muriel, took place on October 1, 2004.
However, many patient groups continued to mark 'hepatitis day' on disparate dates.
For this reason in 2008, the World Hepatitis Alliance in collaboration with patient groups declared May 19 the first global World Hepatitis Day.
Following the adoption of a resolution during the 63rd
World Health Assembly in May 2010, World Hepatitis Day was given global endorsement as the primary focus for national and international awareness-raising efforts and the date was changed to July 28 (in honour of Nobel Laureate
Baruch Samuel Blumberg
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepa ...
, discoverer of the hepatitis B virus, who celebrates his birthday on that date). The resolution resolves that "28 July shall be designated as World Hepatitis Day in order to provide an opportunity for education and greater understanding of
viral hepatitis
Viral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to a viral infection. It may present in acute form as a recent infection with relatively rapid onset, or in chronic form.
The most common causes of viral hepatitis are the five unrelated hepatotropic vi ...
as a global public health problem, and to stimulate the strengthening of preventive and control measures of this disease in Member States."
World Hepatitis Day is now recognised in over 100 countries each year through events such as free screenings, poster campaigns, demonstrations, concerts, talk shows, flash mobs and vaccination drives, amongst many others. Each year a report is published by the WHO and the World Hepatitis Alliance detailing all the events across the world.
Themes
World Hepatitis Day provides an opportunity to focus on actions such as:
[
*Raising awareness of the different forms of hepatitis and how they are transmitted;
*Strengthening prevention, screening and control of viral hepatitis and its related diseases;
*Increasing hepatitis B vaccine coverage and integration into national ]immunization
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen).
When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-s ...
programmes; and
*Coordinating a global response to hepatitis.
Each year focuses on a specific theme. The list of themes is as follows:
* 2011: Hepatitis affects everyone, everywhere. Know it. Confront it. Confront her.
* 2012: It's closer than you think.
* 2013: More must be done to stop this silent killer.
* 2014: Hepatitis: Think Again
* 2015: Prevention of viral Hepatitis. Act now.
* 2016: Know Hepatitis-Act now.
* 2017: Eliminate Hepatities.
* 2018: Test. Treat. Hepatitis.
* 2019: Invest in eliminating hepatitis.
References
External links
{{commons category, World Hepatitis Day
World Hepatitis Day
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is an agency of the European Union located in Lisbon, Portugal, and established in 1993. In June 2022, the Council of the European Union approved a reform of the organization ...
World Hepatitis Day
World Health Organization
World Hepatitis Day
World Hepatitis Alliance
July observances
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...
Hepatitis
International observances
World Health Organization