Hepatitis awareness app launched in Bangla
National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh has launched a first-ever mobile app targeting almost 300 million Bengali-speaking people across the world to create awareness about the fatal diseases--Hepatitis B and C.
Marking the World Hepatitis Day-2016 today, the foundation made the app "Hepatitis Rvbyb Ges fvj _vKyb" [Know Hepatitis and Stay Well] available for all during a seminar at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka. The app has already been uploaded to Google Play Store from where anybody can download it for free.
"It is actually a special dictionary about viral Hepatitis. In this app, people can learn about the liver, liver transplant, food for liver, who is at risk of viral Hepatitis, hepatitis-B and C, vaccination procedure, fatty liver, hepatitis in pregnancy, liver function tests," Zunaid Paiker, chief coordinator at National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh, told The Daily Star.
The foundation believes that the mobile awareness app will help people know and understand more about the viral Hepatitis.
Prof Mohammad Ali, general secretary of the foundation, read out the keynote paper at the seminar.
Themed with elimination and eradication of Hepatitis, a total of 194 member countries of World Health Organisation (WHO) and 230 patient organisations of World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) observed the day with the slogan 'Nohep" to root out Hepatitis by the year 2030, he said.
Around four percent to seven percent of the country's total population is infected by Hepatitis B and about one percent has Hepatitis C, said Prof Ali mentioning that above three percent of the pregnant women are carrying Hepatitis B.
"The viruses transmit from mothers to the newborns. The virus is alarmingly spreading in the country. Awareness among the people is the best means to prevent the fatal viruses," he observed.
But the people should not take unscientific treatment to be cured from the viruses, Prof Ali said, adding that the government's involvement in the prevention and treatment of the fatal diseases due to Hepatitis is still not satisfactory.
National Liver Foundation Vice-President Prof AQM Mohsen chaired at the function while its joint-secretary general Prof Anisur Rahman among others also spoke. They highlighted timely diagnosis to avoid risks of Hepatitis.
There are five unique Hepatitis viruses – A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis B kills around 3,50,000 people in the South-East Asian region every year, which is more than the annual death of AIDS and malaria combined, according to WHO.