www . biospectrumindia . com | November 2017 | BioSpectrum l WORLD NEWS
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Pakistan launches its first Hepatitis Strategic Framework
Relying on weak epidemiological data due to the absence of a national hepatitis surveillance system , Pakistan ’ s first National Hepatitis Strategic Framework ( NHSF ) 2017-2021 was launched in Islamabad with a target to reduce chronic cases of Hepatitis B and C by 10 per cent , and new cases of Hepatitis B and C by 30 per cent . The target is the first milestone to be achieved by 2021 as part of the larger vision to eliminate viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030 .
The NHSF was launched by the Pakistan Health Research Council ( PHRC ), the Ministry of Health , and the World Health Organization ( WHO ) in the presence of the Director General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , Regional Head of WHO Dr Mahmoud Fikri , and the minister and secretary of health Saira Afzal and Muhammad Ayub Sheikh respectively , among others . Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Huma Qureshi , former head of PHRC , shared the salient features of the NHSF .
One of the key objectives of
the strategy is to obtain a yearly increase in the diagnosis and treatment of Hepatitis B and C cases , and a yearly decrease in the number of new infections . How these objectives can be achieved in the absence of real-time data is a tough question to answer . Pakistan does not have a national hepatitis surveillance system , and as such , epidemiological data are weak . Federal and provincial data are often inadequate or not up to date . As such , the NHSF is based on limited epidemiological findings of the 2008 National Hepatitis Survey . The implementation of high-impact and targeted interventions will remain a far cry in the absence of more accurate data .
Sri Lanka takes up infectious diseases as a major concern
Sri Lanka ’ s Health Ministry is planning to take steps to develop the National Institute of Infectious Diseases ( IDH ) in Angoda as an Infectious Diseases Teaching Hospital in the future . Sri Lanka ’ s Minister of Health , Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine , Dr Rajitha Senaratne has asked the officials to provide him with the plans to develop the hospital within six months and he will allocate the funding .
The number of reported dengue cases saw a huge rise and the government took various measures to prevent the spread of the disease . The disease was controlled due to the proper treatment services delivered by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases , The Negombo General Hospital and all other island wide hospitals to the patients .
The Minister noted that there were around 600 patients in the 180-bed IDH and the hospital staff worked collectively to treat the patients . He said the Ministry provided everything the hospitals needed and due to the lack of space for patients , the Sri Lankan Army built temporary buildings .
UN starts cholera vaccinations in Bangladesh
UN agencies and Bangladesh ’ s health ministry began a massive cholera immunization campaign to stem a possible outbreak of the water-borne disease among more than a half million Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence in Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh .
No cases of the potentially life-threatening diarrheal disease have yet appeared in makeshift camps in Bangladesh . UNICEF said the vaccination campaign involves 900,000 doses of the vaccine delivered by more than 200 mobile teams , making it the secondlargest oral vaccination campaign of its kind , after another in Haiti last year . The campaign will also target residents of older refugee camps that have existed in Bangladesh since the 1990s .
The World Health Organization has tallied some 10,000 cases of diarrhea among the refugees , and says unhygienic and cramped conditions raise the potential for a cholera outbreak . The first round of the cholera vaccination campaign will cover 650,000 people age one and older . The second round will target 250,000 children between one and five years with an additional dose of the vaccine for added protection .