Hon’ble Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla Ji; Hon’ble Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya; Hon’ble Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju; Shri Harivansh, Hon’ble Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha; Shri Anil Baijal, Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Delhi; Sir Michael Houghton, renowned scientist and Nobel laureate; Members of Parliament; Dr S K Sarin, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences; hepatitis champions and people living with hepatitis,
Today we mark World Hepatitis Day – a day to raise awareness about viral hepatitis and the need to intensify action to eliminate it as a public health threat in the South-East Asia Region and across the world.
I give my warm thanks to the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies, under the Lok Sabha Secretariat, and the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), for organizing this seminar.
And I commend the Government of India for being the first country in the Region to launch a full-fledged national programme to diagnose and treat the two most deadly strains of the disease – hepatitis B and C.
Since 2018, under the National Viral Hepatitis Control Plan, more than 75 lakh people have been screened for hepatitis B and C in government-run facilities across India – completely free of cost. More than 71 000 have been treated – again, free of cost.
India continues to make game-changing efforts to produce and mass-procure direct-acting antiviral drugs that can cure most cases of hepatitis C with a simple 12–24-week course. Tens of thousands of people have already benefitted.
High-level and sustained commitment to find the missing millions and ensure they get the care they need to live healthy and productive lives, and contribute to India’s overall sustainable development, is unprecedented, and to the credit of all involved – especially amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 response, and the complex social and economic recovery that will follow, the theme of today’s commemoration could not be more apt: Action to eliminate hepatitis cannot and must not wait.
The South-East Asia Region has an estimated 60 million people living with chronic hepatitis B. Around 10.5 million live with chronic hepatitis C.
In 2019 around 180 000 people in the Region lost their lives to hepatitis B and about 38 000 to hepatitis C.
Our task to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat is indeed immense, but it is achievable. And I am inspired that all countries in the Region have in recent years made important progress, especially on prevention, in line with our Regional Action Plan on Viral Hepatitis.
Nine countries have achieved coverage of more than 90% of the third dose of hepatitis B vaccine.
Like India, almost all countries are implementing strategies to address hepatitis specifically, with a focus on driving integrated, coordinated action.
Outreach and engagement with key populations, community and civil society organizations continues to be a core priority, in line with the Region’s commitment to advance health equity and achieve universal health coverage – one of its eight Flagship Priorities.
Amid the COVID-19 response, WHO continues to support all countries in the Region to maintain essential health services, including for hepatitis, and to accelerate progress towards the 2020 and 2030 targets.
In the weeks and months ahead, catch-up campaigns will be crucial – here, as elsewhere.
The COVID-19 response has borne a range of innovations and key lessons that are ours to utilize – the potential of telemedicine, virtual means of capacity-building, and the critical importance of community participation in service delivery, to name a few.
Both public and private sector healthcare institutions must be mobilized accordingly, in addition to community-based and civil society organizations. All stakeholders must be fully committed to achieving the whole-of-government, whole-of-society buy-in required.
In addressing how best to improve hepatitis diagnosis and treatment in India, as across the Region, my message today is on the critical importance of taking a primary health care approach.
Hepatitis screening and diagnosis should be included in each country’s minimum package of essential health services.
In the absence of complications, treatment need not occur in tertiary care settings, and can instead be delivered at the primary level – where most people’s health needs should be met, and where key populations can most efficiently be reached.
I note with commendation the ILBS’s efforts to partner with primary health centres across Delhi to increase access to testing and treatment, even amid the pandemic.
The ILBS model, under the stewardship of Dr Sarin, has great potential to be replicated in all parts of India and across the Region, as together we strive not only to sustain, but accelerate progress.
On that, I very much appreciate the ongoing commitment expressed by parliamentarians and other leaders in India.
In all countries of the Region, high-level champions are required to promote investments in hepatitis that are immediate, adequate and predictable, and to sustain high-level buy-in and support.
Both traditional and non-traditional media must continue to be mobilized to reduce hepatitis-related stigma, increase awareness, and drive demand for testing, especially among key populations.
Public messages by personalities such as Shri Amitabh Bachchan and Mary Kom, and campaigns by organizations such as ILBS, are essential to reaching the unreached and underserved, and must continue to be delivered with vigour, and in a mission mode.
Because we all agree – action to eliminate hepatitis cannot and must not wait. Together, we must act with speed and scale, leaving no one behind.
I once again thank India’s Hon’ble Parliamentarians for their leadership and wish you an engaging and inspiring World Hepatitis Day.
Thank you.