ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services, World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners committed on Friday to intensify the fight against hepatitis C, aimingto avert 850,000 deaths and 1.1 million new infections by 2050 under the umbrella of the Prime Minister`s National Programme for the Elimination of Hepatitis C.

This was one of the objectives discussed during an event chaired by Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal.

`This is not just an occasion, this is a commitment. It is a mis-sion. When it comes to the health care system of Pakistan, we have to do everything that we should have done yesterday, but it is never too late. We have to start as soon as possible,` he said.

For this mission, he said that he along with the entire team, will work day and night and we will leave no stone unturned to achieve our target. `Millions of people have already been affected, and many more are getting infected every single day. We must act now to save our people,` he said.

The minister said that we had to screen our population. `The success story is there. Prime Minister himself has spoken tothe President of Egypt. I call upon all stakeholders to join hands in this mission to protect the health and future of the nation,` he said.

As part of World Hepatitis Day (28 July) commemorations, WHO and the Ministry of Health convened national and international experts for a discussion, highlighting that, in addition to saving lives, every dollar invested in hepatitis prevention yields an economic return of $11.

According to data presented during the event, the implementation of the Prime Minister Programme could save 150,000 lives and avoid 210,000 infectionsby2030,preventing90,000liver cancer cases and 71,000 cirrhosis cases.

This prevention will also save over the next five years Rs1.3 billion ($4.6 million) in treatment and over Rs2 billion ($7 million) in hospitalisation costs, saving a total Rs3.3 billion.

`As we speak, every 30 seconds someone dies from hepatitis-related severe liver disease or liver cancer. This means that at least eight people will have died due to hepatitis before I finish this speech. I am convinced that, together, under the Government of Pakistan`s leadership, we can break hepatitis down,` said WHO Representative in Pakistan DrDapeng Luo.

`Detecting and treating hepatitis is essential, but prevention is the key to end the disease. We will continue to partner with Pakist an to implement science-based approaches and adapt to the Pakistani context best practices and lessons learned from around the world,` he said.

With 10 million of the 50 million estimated cases worldwide, Pakistan has the heaviest burden of hepatitis C globally. It is estimated that, every year, 110,000 people are infected in the country 62% due to unsafe medical injections (including blood transfusions) and 38% due to injection drug use.