INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In a significant milestone, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Wednesday that both Sri Lanka and Maldives have successfully
high coverage of Hepatitis B vaccine doses in infants and a low prevalence of the deadly disease, corroborated through serological surveys
demonstrates the earnest efforts being made by the health leaders and officials, health workers and the people of these countries towards
Verification of Hepatitis B Control in WHO South-East Asia Region reviewed childhood immunisation data from the Maldives and Sri Lanka that
showed consistent over 90 per cent coverage with Hepatitis B vaccine doses provided during infancy for the past many years.The experts also
the Expert Panel concluded that the standards required for verification of hepatitis B control have been met in both these countries and
chairperson of the Regional Expert Panel for verification of hepatitis B control in Southeast Asia.Notably, the two countries join
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand, who achieved the same feat in 2019, WHO stated in the release.Preventing hepatitis B infection in
infancy substantially reduces chronic infections and cases of liver cancer and cirrhosis in adulthood.Meanwhile, hepatitis control continues
to be an important public health initiative in the Southeast Asia Region of WHO, which comprises 11 countries and is home to a quarter of
Of the people eligible for antiviral treatment, only about 10 per cent know their status and less than 5 per cent of them are on
treatment.In 2016, the South-East Asia Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group endorsed a regional goal of hepatitis B control with a
target of reducing hepatitis B prevalence to less than 1 per cent among children aged at least 5 years.Hepatitis B vaccine, as a part of the
pentavalent vaccine, has been included in the national childhood immunisation schedule of all countries of the Region, with three doses of
this vaccine provided to children during their first year of life
Eight countries of the Region also have a policy of providing a birth dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn babies.According to WHO,
the region made good progress in improving immunisation coverage of the pentavalent vaccine until 2019
However, there was a decline in coverage in several countries of the Region in 2020 and 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic
*Intensive efforts in countries have resulted in the revival of childhood immunization coverage to pre-pandemic levels in several countries
and the WHO and UNICEF estimates for 2022 show that the overall coverage of 3rd dose of pentavalent vaccine has recovered to the
pre-pandemic level of 91 per cent in the region, a sharp increase from 82 per cent coverage level reported in 2021.Dr Khetrapal Singh
further stressed that countries also need to focus on improving the Hepatitis B vaccine birth dose, which continues to have a relatively
slow uptake with an estimated coverage of only 58 per cent in the region in 2022.She said that one of the key barriers to achieving high
hepatitis B vaccine birth dose coverage remains the high proportion of home deliveries, that do not allow timely access of the Hepatitis B
vaccine to these newborns.The Regional Director further added that inequities in immunisation service delivery, suboptimal awareness and
training of health staff at birthing facilities, particularly in terms of false contraindications and fear of adverse events following
is a priority for our region
Achieving the control goal is a critical step as we progress towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of the hepatitis B
In addition to vaccination, continued efforts are needed to scale up other preventive measures such as safe injection, safe blood and
