Rwanda has joined the rest of the world in celebrating the ‘World Hepatitis Day 2022’ under the theme ‘Bringing hepatitis care closer to communities” with watchword #RwandaCares: The Last Mile toward Hepatitis Elimination”.
World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes severe liver disease and hepatocellular cancer.
During his remarks, Dr. Daniel Ngamije, the Minister of Health, acknowledged stakeholders contribution to the achievement of Rwanda’s last mile towards Hepatitis Elimination. “The journey is long, targets are ambitious but with collective efforts we can achieve hepatitis elimination, we are on track,” he said.
This year’s theme, “Bringing hepatitis care closer to you”, aims to raise awareness about the need to simplify and bring hepatitis care to primary health facilities, community-based venues and locations beyond hospital sites, so that care is closer to communities and people wherever they are.
There are five main types of the hepatitis virus – A, B, C, D and E.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Hepatitis B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people globally, and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and viral hepatitis-related deaths.
