World ‘Hepa’ Day marked July 28

The Hepatology Society of the Philippines (HSP), in partnership with the Department of Health and other institutional stakeholder partners in the campaign to prevent and control the dreaded killer disease, will lead the country’s annual celebration of  World Hepatitis Day on July 28 at East Avenue Medical Center.

Simultaneous  celebrations organized by members of the HSP in Metro Manila will also be held at St. Luke’s Medical Center, The Medical City,  Manila Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Metropolitan Hospital and Philippine General Hospital.

The theme of this  year’s celebration is “Infant vaccination within 24 hours of birth to prevent Hepatitis B.”

Scheduled activities include lay forums,  free consultation and viral hepatitis screening.

World Hepatitis Day is one of only four official disease-specific world health days declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), celebrated every year on July 28.

Over the years, millions  have participated in different activities and celebrations around the world to raise awareness on viral hepatitis and  promote  increased access to treatment, care and better prevention programs.

The HSP has a long-standing tradition of celebrating World Hepatitis Day. Last year, the largest World Hepatitis Day celebration was held at St. Luke’s Medical Center. Many celebrities joined the big event to raise awareness  on  viral hepatitis.

This year, the theme of the global campaign against viral hepatitis  is “Elimination.”

Member-states of WHO have signed up and committed to the goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.

The HSP  is the major advocate in the effort to control and eliminate the threat of viral hepatitis in the country through various  awareness  programs among  the various stakeholders, including health-care providers and the general public, on  the continuing threat of the dreaded  viral disease.