KARACHI - Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Sindh, Dr Azra Pechuho chaired a meeting on Hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme in Sindh. The meeting was attended by Parliamentary Secretary Health and Secretary Health as well as DG Health. 
The programme has established treatment centres at teaching district and tehsil hospital level, where screening, vaccination, diagnostic and treatment services are provided. Also available through this programme are cold storage facilities as well as warehouses for storage of resources needed for logistics and medicine. 
Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Sukkur have FCR (Hepatitis screening) Tests provided and utilised free of cost. Since the initiation of the programme, over 9.044 million people have been vaccinated for Hepatitis B and 4,230 screening and vaccination camps have been set up across the province. 
To have a more holistic awareness drive regarding viral hepatitis diseases, the programme team has created campaigns that target electronic as well as print media, conduct awareness seminars, school sessions, muhalla (neighbourhood) meetings and camps for the prevention and treatment of Hepatitis. 
It was also discussed to involve maternity homes, RMNCH centres, all medical facilities that involve obstetrician services to provide prenatal screenings for Hepatitis B. Vaccinations for the same must be made available at all medical levels. 
Those who have tested positive for tuberculosis must be screened for HIV and vice versa in order to increase tracing and create more efficient tracking of the trends of communicable diseases.