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Hepatitis Eradication Campaign was held in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences under supervision of MUMS Office of Vice President for Cultural and Student Affairs, according to the guidelines communicated by National Health Forum to all Health Promotion Campaigns of Iranian universities of medical sciences. Secretary of MUMS Student Center for Health Promotion said that the goal of the campaign was eradicating hepatitis and added, “Students of medical disciplines (medicine, nursing, public health and laboratory science) are exposed to hepatitis because they may come in contact with patients’ blood during their clinical work.” Interviewed by Webda, Aref Lotfian said, “This campaign tries to warn students about the disease, and inform them how to preserve their health while performing clinical activities. These students can then disseminate the information in the society and help in eradicating hepatitis.” “Hepatitis Eradication Campaign was initially held at MUMS School of Nursing for one day and welcomed by students, and now 1-day campaigns are being held in all schools of the university. During this period, we found a number of students who may be infected and will be referred to relevant authorities in order to ensure their status with the required tests. We have close cooperation with the Provincial Health Center, and thus we could hold educational sessions on hepatitis and refer suspected patients for diagnostic tests,” he added. Lotfian continued, “We give questionnaires to students in the campaign, with questions for finding individuals at risk of or suffering the disease. Students provide their contact information in questionnaires and the Provincial Health Center will take care of follow-ups if necessary. This initiative has been recommended strongly by WHO to [health] ministries of the countries in the region, because three-quarters of the world's population (two billion people) are at risk of contracting hepatitis.” He referred to the role of information sharing in eradicating the disease and then noted, “Hepatitis is a viral disease affecting the liver and, given the important role of liver in the body, can lead to irreparable damage to the patient’s body. It is completely asymptomatic and, similar to HIV, may be latent for up to 15 years, and this is why patients [typically] become aware of their condition only at the final stage, when liver is damaged and cancer has developed.” “High-risk sexual behaviors, intravenous drug addiction, mother-to-child transmission, having contact with patients’ blood (for medical staff members for example), unsanitary tattooing and the like are the main causes of contracting the various types of hepatitis. Hepatitis is an infectious viral disease with many different types; but our campaign is focused on two of them - B and C – which have a high prevalence and risk of infection. With a prevalence of 1.02% for hepatitis B and 0.5% for hepatitis C, Iran is among the low-risk countries. All people born since 1996 have been vaccinated, and meat and blood products have since been strictly monitored,” he continued. |