The World Health Organization yesterday reaffirmed in a statement its commitment to lowering the rate of hepatitis B among children in Cambodia and eight other countries to below 2 percent by 2012.
The most recent data available for Cambodia, from 2006, puts the prevalence of hepatitis B among children age five and younger at 3.5 percent, the WHO’s Western Pacific Region technical officer Richard Duncan said.
Infants are at a very high risk of contracting hepatitis B during birth because it can be easily transmitted through the mother’s blood, according to the WHO statement. The disease can ultimately lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.
Mr Duncan said the percentage of children in Cambodia with hepatitis B is less now than the 3.5 percent reported in 2006, but he’s not convinced that the 2 percent mark will be met by 2012.
Lower rates of hepatitis B among children would entail women giving birth in health facilities and not at home, he said, because inoculations administered within 24 hours of birth are 99 percent effective in preventing transmission.
“It’s definitely possible, but it’ll require a dramatic increase in deliveries at facilities, which we don’t see happening at the moment,” he said.
According to 2010 WHO data, only 54 percent of births in Cambodia occurred at a health facility, and 57 percent of Cambodian children received the inoculation within the recommended time period.
Tung Rathavy, deputy director of the National Maternal and Child Health Center, said the center works to notify people that giving birth at home is unsafe. “Our mission is to provide education directly to the mother and father to tell them the benefits of going to a hospital.”
Dr Morn Chheng, deputy manager for the National Immunization Program, said that the WHO’s goal for Cambodia is attainable. “I hope that we can get the hepatitis B rate down, because we have enough vaccines donated by NGOs,” he said.
Later this year, the WHO, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, will conduct a study of hepatitis B.
