India’s Tripura state launches mission against Hepatitis

(April 16, 2012) The government of Tripura state in north-east India, on Sunday launched a program to make its capital Agartala Hepatitis free. "This is the first time in India that such a type of health programme is being launched to make the capital city free from the virus disease," said Pradip Bhowmik, president of the non-governmental organization Hepatitis Foundation of Tripura (HFT). The initiative was launched owing to north eastern India’s vulnerability to this highly contagious disease. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently conducted a study to determine the incidences of hepatitis in the northeastern region, bordering China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Agartala Municipal Council (AMC), Tripura health department in association along with HFT initiated the program in the city. "Around 50,000 people irrespective of their age are to receive the vaccine at highly subsidised rate. The second and third doses would be administered May 20 and Oct 14," Bhowmik said. According to experts, of the six Hepatitis strains (A, B, C, D, E and G), Hepatitis B and C are the most dangerous as these are transmitted through blood. Hepatitis inflames the liver, and is spread through various methods including prenatal transmission, blood transfusion, sexual contact, needle injury and intravenous drug users. According to experts, over 400 million people across the world are affected by Hepatitis B alone. Of this number, two-thirds are in Asian countries.