President Dr Arif Alvi Friday while stressing the need for timely diagnosis of the liver disease, urged the media and mosques to play their role to create public awareness on the disease as well as the preventive measures.
Addressing the ‘Third Asia Pacific’ conference on liver diseases, the president strongly advocated for discarding the used syringes to avoid the spread of the communicable diseases.
He told the gathering that the World Health Organization had set a target to eliminate hepatitis from the world by 2030. He viewed that the conference would help benefit from the deliberations and experiences of the foreign delegates and experts to meet the WHO’s objective.
He said around eight to ten percent of Pakistan’s population was suffering from various liver diseases including hepatitis.
However, unfortunately, majority of the people usually remain unaware of the disease and did not take required precautionary measures, he added.
For not getting the disease diagnosed timely, it usually infects the body to the dangerous level, he added.
Terming the reuse of syringes an offense, the president said it led to the spread of several diseases. He said a health emergency was required to address the public health issues which was being worked out by the government. He said the diseases like hepatitis could be eliminated through coordinate efforts and creating awareness on prevention, more than the treatment. Even, he said Pakistan could also learn from the experiences of Egypt to eliminate hepatitis.—APP
