Saudi Arabia joined forces with other member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) as it observed World Hepatitis Day on Sunday.

According to an official from the Ministry of Health, the theme for the year 2013 is “This is Hepatitis, Know it, Confront it.”

The campaign has been established with the aim of creating global awareness about the hepatitis virus and encouraging preventative measures, treatment and diagnosis.

Of the five types of viruses, types B and C are considered to be dangerous.

Food and water-borne infections cause Hepatitis A and E of which millions of cases are reported every year.

Worldwide, hepatitis B and C causes an estimated 57 percent of cases of liver cirrhosis and 78 percent of cases of primary liver cancer. The availability of a vaccine that confers lifelong protection against infection with the hepatitis B virus gives public health organizations a rare opportunity to prevent a leading cause of cancer, especially among low and middle-income countries.

The World Hepatitis Alliance launched World Hepatitis Day in 2008.

In May 2010, the World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA63.18 on viral hepatitis, which was endorsed by World Hepatitis Day.

The resolution, which called for a comprehensive approach to hepatitis prevention and control, launched a new era of awareness about the magnitude of the disease caused by viral hepatitis and the need for urgent action on several fronts.

The day is observed on 28 July to mark the birthday of Professor Baruch Blumberg, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in discovering the hepatitis B virus. According to the Ministry of Health, the infection rate of hepatitis went down to 1.13 percent in 2011 from 10.64 percent in 2005.

Sources say there are some 240 million people suffering from chronic hepatitis (B) and approximately 2 billion infected with hepatitis viral (B).

In addition, there were more than 600,000 deaths due to complications caused by acute or chronic hepatitis gayyosa (B).

The report pointed out that some 150 million people suffer from chronic viral hepatitis (C) and that more than 350,000 deaths occur due to complications caused by hepatitis (C), while almost 1.4 million are infected with viral hepatitis (A) worldwide.