Thursday, March 19, 2015

After polio, Amitabh Bachchan to lead India’s fight against hepatitis B

Taking a cue from the success of pulse polio campaign, Indian government has again roped in Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador for its campaign against hepatitis B, a critical public health problem facing India.

According to latest World Health Organization (WHO) data, hepatitis B is responsible for 1.4 million deaths every year globally, as compared to 1.5 million deaths from HIV/AIDS and 1.2 million each from malaria and tubercluosis. India has over 40 million hepatitis B infected patients (second only to China) and constitutes about 15% of the entire pool of hepatitis B in the world. Every year, nearly 600,000 patients die from HBV infection in the Indian subcontinent.

The health ministry has finalized talks with Amitabh Bachchan and is set to launch the campaign in April, a senior official in the ministry told TOI.

Bachchan was made brand ambassador for the Polio Eradication Campaign in 2005 after polio cases peaked in India in 2002 with 1,556 cases being detected. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh accounted for the maximum number of cases.

Prevalence of hepatitis B is high in tribal areas in India. Chronic Hepatitis B infection accounts for about 30% of liver cirrhosis and 40-50% of liver cancers in India. Outbreaks of acute and fulminant hepatitis B still occur mainly due to inadequately sterilized needles and syringes.

Hepatitis B vaccine is also part of the government's ambitious child immunization programme - Mission Indradhanush against seven vaccine preventable diseases. Besides hepatitis B, Mission Indradhanush will include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis and measles.

The health ministry plans to target 5% unvaccinated children every year in a bid to accelerate immunization coverage. According to Union health minister, the government has adopted the mission mode to achieve a target of full coverage by 2020.

In the first phase of the mission, the ministry has identified 201 high focus districts in the country with nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children. Of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as nearly 25% of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts of four states, the official said.

Immunization coverage has increased by merely 1% since 2009, when it was estimated at around 61%, government data shows. The latest data for 2013 shows vaccine coverage at 65%, whereas there are over 26 million infants across the country.

Experts say the insufficient coverage of vaccines is often due to significant discrimination in society related to gender, demography (religion, caste) and community literacy levels etc.

The government's campaign with Bachchan as ambassador and Unicef as partner will attempt to address these social issues and motivate parents to come out for immunization.

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