After polio, Amitabh Bachchan to lead India's fight against hepatitis B campaign

NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from the success of pulse polio campaign, the government has roped in Amitabh Bachchan once again, this time as the brand ambassador for its drive against hepatitis B, a critical public health problem in India.

According to latest World Health Organisation (WHO) data, hepatitis B is responsible for 1.4 million deaths every year globally, as compared to 1.5 million deaths from AIDS and 1.2 million each from malaria and tuberculosis. India has over 40 million hepatitis B infected patients (second only to China) and constitutes about 15% of the entire pool of hepatitis B in the world. Every year, nearly 600,000 patients die from HBV (hepatitis B virus) infection in the Indian subcontinent.

The health ministry has finalized talks with Bachchan and is set to launch the campaign in April, a senior official in the ministry told TOI.Bachchan was made brand ambassador for the Polio Eradication Campaign in 2005 after polio cases peaked in India in 2002. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh accounted for the maximum number of cases.

Prevalence of hepatitis B is high in tribal areas in India.Chronic hepatitis B infection accounts for about 30% of liver cirrhosis and 40-50% of liver cancers in India. Outbreaks of acute and fulminant hepatitis B still occur mainly due to inadequately sterilized needles and syringes.

Hepatitis B vaccine is also part of the government's ambitious child immunization programme -Mission Indradhanush -against seven vaccine-preventable diseases. Besides hepatitis B, Mission Indradhanush will include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis and measles.

The health ministry plans to target 5% unvaccinated children every year in a bid to accelerate immunization coverage. According to Union health minister J P Nadda, the government has adopted the mission mode to achieve a target of full coverage by 2020.

In the first phase of the mission, the ministry has identified 201 high focus districts in the country with nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children.Of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four states of UP , Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as nearly 25% of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts of four states, the official said.