National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh observed World Hepatitis Day 2019 in Bangladesh. The theme of the day was “Find the Missing Millions”. The events were WHD 2019 Seminar, Publication of WHD 2019 Souvenir, Poster campaign in the social media, Special WHD 2019 Television program at ATN Bangla, Special WHD 2019 interview in the top ranked news portal of Bangladesh, Prothom-Alo.com, A special week-long ` Find the Missing Millions’ Hepatitis Testing Week (July 28 – Aug 3, 2019) at Dhaka.
Hon. President, Hon. Prime Minister & Health Minister of Bangladesh gave special messages on this day with special emphasis on Elimination of viral hepatitis in Bangladesh. President of World Hepatitis Alliance, Michael Ninburg sent a special message to the National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh, He appreciated NLFB’s activities as a leading force in the fight against hepatitis. The messages were published in the WHD 2019 Souvenir of National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh.
NLFB organized a seminar on World Hepatitis Day 2019 in Bangladesh. Hon. Chief Justice of Bangladesh Syed Mahmud Hussain was the chief guest. Participation of Hon. Chief Justice of Bangladesh in the Seminar and his call for awareness and testing got special attention of the common people.
Special guest was attorney general of Bangladesh, Mr. Mahbub e Alam, & Prof. Faruque Ahmed, Director Sheikh Russell Gastroliver institute & Hospital & Secretary General, Bangladesh Gastroenterology Society. Presided by National Professor Brig Abdul Malek , Founder president of National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh. Doctors, medical students, patients & common people attended the seminar.
Prof. Mohammad Ali, founder secretary general of the liver foundation was the keynote speaker. He narrated the significance of the theme of the day “Find the Missing Millions”. He told that awareness of mass people especially 65% people in rural Bangladesh should get top priority. He put special emphasis on making a national viral hepatitis control strategy by the government. This is most essential for achieving the goal of ELIMINATION 2030.
Chief Justice of Bangladesh Syed Mahmud Hussain praised the different long continued activities of liver foundation for awareness building & prevention of viral hepatitis in Bangladesh. He told 290 million people in the world are unaware of the presence of hepatitis B & C in their body. He asked people to be aware and do blood test for hepatitis B and C.
Attorney General, Mr. Mahbub e Alam praised the activities of National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh in the national and international arena. He told the foundation has earned a good reputation of our nation globally. He also invited all to come forward to control the deadly viruses in Bangladesh so that we can achieve the goal of ELIMINATION 2030.
A special social media poster campaign was run through facebook platform, it reached around 57 thousand.
Special WHD 2019 interview of Prof. Mohammad Ali in the Prothom-Alo.com reached around 1.6 Million+ people in different avenues like Web portal, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube of Prothom Alo. This program was the most publicized event of the day.
`Find the Missing Millions’ themed Television programs organized by NLFB were broadcasted on the popular TV Channel ATN Bangla. Prof. Mohammad Ali, Secretary General, National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh, Prof. M Anisur Rahman, Joint Secretary General, National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh, Prof. Salimur Rahman, President, Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Bangladesh & Prof. Dr. Faruk Ahmed, Director, Sheikh Russell Gastroliver institute & Hospital & Secretary General, Bangladesh Gastroenterology Society participated. Jamuna TV and ATN news also broadcasted special talk shows on World Hepatitis Day 2019 (28 July).
A special week long ` Find the Missing Millions’ Hepatitis Testing Week (July 28 – Aug 3, 2019) conducted at 15 centers of Dhaka city. The program offered low cost hepatitis B and C testing. 30 NOhep activists participated for 7 seven days and distributed 25,000 `Find the Missing Millions’ leaflets. Under this program 3120 people got the opportunity to test.
The World Hepatitis Day 2019 news was covered by many media, especially Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), Daily Prothom Alo, bdnews24.com and Daily NewAge.
Engagement of Social media on WHD 2019 campaign is a great success to reach millions of people in a short period. We are happy to receive an immense response of the campaign. It will help us to reach the ELIMINATION 2030.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/liver.org.bd/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1144747502392033
