Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, April 23:

In order to check the spread of Hepatitis-B, the government needs to screen all pregnant women and vaccinate the baby soon after birth, especially in high incidence areas, according to the president of the Liver Foundation Nepal, Dr Santosh Man Shrestha. Talking to this daily, Shrestha said screening of pregnant women for Hepatitis-B virus (HBV) and vaccinating babies soon after birth would be more effective than vaccinating everybody. “There is a high chance of mother-to-baby transmission of the HBV, and babies infected at birth have the highest risk of getting liver cancer in the long run,” he said. According to a research done by the foundation, the HBV infection rate was found to be high among the Tibetan and Sherpa communities, and those in Manang areas. It is estimated that around one per cent of Nepal’s population is infected with HBV.

If the mothers-to-be are not vaccinated, then 90 per cent infants will be infected at birth, 30 per cent when they are between the ages one to five years, six per cent after 5 years of age, and 15-25 per cent of the chronically infected persons will die from chronic liver disease.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr Hari Nath Acharya said the government is planning to

intensify Hepatitis-B awareness programmes. Forty-three districts were covered by the programme last year, while it has reached 65 districts this year. The programme aims to cover rest of the districts including Gorkha, Rukum, Lamjung among others, next year. Dr Shyam Raj Upreti, chief of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) section, said the routine immunisation will continue. “It has been envisaged that vaccination will help to check Hepatitis-B infections by up to 90 per cent in children,” he said. “Children will be given the ‘DPT /Hepi combo’ vaccines from July.” Under routine immunisation, Hepatitis-B vaccination consists of three doses — first dose at six weeks, second at 10 weeks, and third at 14 weeks from the day of the baby’s birth. Though Hepatitis-B is considered equally dangerous as HIV/AIDS with the mode of transmission being exactly the same, it has been shadowed over by the AIDS pall. The exact number of persons infected with Hepatitis-B is still not known.