World Hepatitis Day 2026
Written by EDYOU FM Staff on July 29, 2026
World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on July 28 to bring awareness to conditions that affect the liver, such as inflammation that causes liver disease and liver cancer.
This year’s theme, “Hepatitis: Let’s break it Down,” is a call to remove barriers that stand between people and the services that can save their lives. The Liver is one of the most important and largest internal organs of the body, weighing about 3-4 pounds in an adult. It performs more than five hundred (500) vital functions that help keep the body alive and healthy.
Some main functions include filtering the blood– removing toxins, drugs, alcohol, and harmful substances from the bloodstream. It produces bile, which helps to break down fat during digestion. It also regulates blood sugar by releasing glucose when the body needs energy and stores the excess glucose after meals.
Although the liver is incredibly resilient, it can repair itself from many kinds of injuries; repeated injuries or prolonged injuries over months and years can result in fibrosis (scarring), Cirrhosis (extensive scarring), and Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver).
Hepatitis is commonly caused by viral infections, such as Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B (HBV), and Hepatitis C. Additionally, it can result from alcohol usage, certain medications, toxins, or autoimmune conditions. Guyana has managed to keep its statistics to 2-4% of cases according to the World Health Organization, and surprisingly, the most common infection is not caused by alcohol consumption or incorrect prescription medication; it is a result of germs.
As such, proper hygiene is of paramount importance in and around our dwelling areas, whether in our home or our workspace. Proper sanitization of our kitchen areas, ensuring it’s routinely sanitized with bleach. Ensuring when we are at work, we also clean our surroundings and carefully dispose of waste and personal protective equipment such as gloves and used needles.
In essence, to guard against these maladies, here are some best practices one can follow to keep Hepatitis at bay: get vaccinated, practice good hygiene, avoid unsafe blood exposure, limit alcohol consumption, use medication safely, and get screened regularly.
In addition to the dedicated National Hepatitis Clinic located at the National Care and Treatment in Georgetown, the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Health, launched the Universal Health Voucher, under which Liver Function Tests to the tune of GY$ 4,000 have been made available to encourage Guyanese to get checked and ensure early detection and treatment.
Treatment includes free public healthcare programs providing specialized clinic care, oral curative medicines and routine vaccinations as the Government continues its global effort to eradicate Hepatitis by 2030.
