Find the Missing Millions – World Hepatitis Day

Information contributed by World Hepatitis Alliance Toolkit: 

World Hepatitis Day (WHD) takes places every year on 28 July bringing the world together under a single theme to raise awareness of the global burden of viral hepatitis and to influence real change.

One of just four disease-specific global awareness days officially endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), WHD unites patient organisations, governments, medical professionals, civil society, industry and the general public to boost the global profile of viral hepatitis.

Patient advocates across the world joined together for the first WHD on 19 May 2008. Following the adoption of a World Health Assembly resolution in 2010, WHD was given global endorsement as the primary focus for national and international awareness-raising efforts. The date was chosen to honour Nobel Laureate Baruch Samuel Blumberg who discovered the hepatitis B virus and was born on 28 July. The resolution resolves that “28 July shall be designated as WHD in order to provide an opportunity for education and greater understanding of viral hepatitis as a global public health problem, and to stimulate the strengthening of preventive and control measures of this disease in Member States.”

Over the last decade, the World Hepatitis Alliance has spearheaded the initiative, resulting in the day evolving and exceeding all expectations: from the first community-led day in 2008, to a truly global celebration marked in almost every country in the world.

Helpful Links:

• World Hepatitis Alliance 
• No hep 
• Missing Millions