ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called upon all stakeholders, including government institutions, healthcare professionals, private sector partners, media, and civil society to join hands in a unified response to combat the challenge of hepatitis, besides underscoring the need of raising public awareness.
In a message on ‘World Hepatitis Day’ being observed on July 28, the president said the Day was observed to raise awareness about the dangers of hepatitis and to promote collective action to prevent and control this growing public health threat.
He said addressing hepatitis required an integrated and coordinated national response. “We must implement comprehensive strategies that combine mass awareness campaigns, effective vaccination drives, timely screening and access to treatment. It is imperative to extend these services to all segments of society, especially in underserved and rural areas.
The president said that raising public awareness must remain central to their efforts, adding the more people understood the risks, the better equipped they would be to protect themselves and their families.
In Pakistan, he said, viral hepatitis continued to pose a public health challenge with millions silently suffered due to late diagnosis, lack of awareness and inadequate healthcare services. The rising incidence of hepatitis was putting burden on the healthcare system as well as economy.
“Hepatitis is often called as a “silent killer,” hepatitis progresses unnoticed until it causes irreversible liver damage. If left untreated, it can lead to life-threatening complications such as cirrhosis and liver failure. Its quiet spread has made it a silent epidemic. The disease is preventable, provided its root causes are effectively addressed,” the president observed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government of Pakistan was making concerted efforts to contain the hepatitis epidemic and has launched the Prime Minister’s National Programme for the Elimination of Hepatitis C, which aimed to screen over 165 million people by 2030 and provide free treatment to all positive cases.
In a message on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, he said, “This is a national movement that is a testament to our collective commitment to saving lives and securing the future. To make this vision a reality, we call on different segments of society to contribute to the efforts to end this scourge.”
He said, “On this World Hepatitis Day, we join the international community in reaffirming our commitment to eliminate hepatitis and protect the health of our people.”
“Pakistan is among the countries that are widely affected by the global hepatitis C epidemic. Viral hepatitis is one of the global public health challenges,” he remarked.
