KRCS, WHA collaborate for greater awareness to stop spread of hepatitis B

Notes and media contacts

About Viral Hepatitis:

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, most commonly caused by viral infection. Hepatitis B and C are two such viruses and are responsible for approximately one million deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization. Some 500 million people around the world -- or approximately one in 12 -- are currently infected with chronic hepatitis B or C and one in three people have been exposed to one or both viruses.

Hepatitis B is the most common of the viruses and affects more people than any other form of hepatitis. More than two billion people worldwide have evidence of past hepatitis B infection. Most people will develop the acute form of the disease and will fully recover, but for the 350 million individuals who become chronically infected, hepatitis B will be with them for the rest of their lives. Left untreated, it can progress to cirrhosis and even liver cancer. In fact, some 80 percent of all primary liver cancers worldwide can be attributed to hepatitis B. There is no cure but there are medications available to treat the condition.

About World Hepatitis Day:

The second annual World Hepatitis Day will take place on Tuesday 19 May 2009, as part of an ongoing campaign launched by the World Hepatitis Alliance in 2008. An entirely patient©\led initiative, World Hepatitis Day in 2009 aims to raise awareness of hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as extend the political support for the diseases to levels seen in HIV / AIDS, TB and malaria. The long-term objective of the World Hepatitis Day Campaign is to deliver real improvements in health outcomes for people living with, or at risk from, hepatitis B and C.

About the Kuwait Red Crescent Society:

Kuwait Red Crescent Society is a voluntary humanitarian society that provides assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by social conflicts, wars or natural disasters without discrimination against any human being regardless of nationality, gender, color, race, religions or political beliefs. Its scope of work covers all the governorates of Kuwait with the right to open branches in any of them. The KRCS provides assistance and humanitarian aid to all countries and needy people.

For further information please contact:

Sarah Saeed
Trans-Arabian Creative Communications ¨C (TRACCS)
Kuwait City, Sharq, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Zumorroda Tower
Tel: +965 22916093
Fax: +965 22916095