Over 20,000 children die of Hepatitis B a year
Sinha says at int'l symposium
Staff Corespondent
At least five to eight per cent of the population in Bangladesh is infected with Hepatitis B virus while less than 1 per cent with Hepatitis C, said State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mizanur Rahman Sinha.Sinha was speaking at an international symposium on liver disease organised by Association for the Study of the Liver (ASLDB) in the city yesterday. About 1.5 lakh newborn babies get infected with Hepatitis B every year and at least 20 to 23 thousand children die of it, he said. The government is going to introduce vaccination against Hepatitis B for every child under the age of one year from 2005, Sinha said. Medical specialists from home and abroad took part in the biennial symposium. Liver disease in pregnancy may be fatal and must not be undermined, said Dr. Katherine Williamson, lecturer of Obstetrics Medicine, Imperial College of London. Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Prof. MA Hadi, Bangladesh Medical Association General Secretary AZM Zahid Hossain, ASLDB President Prof. Mobin Khan, Prof. Deirdre Kelly from Birmingham, Prof. ST Fan from Hong Kong and Dr. KC Tan from Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore also spoke.
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