As a target under National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme launched in July 2018, India has pledged to curtail 100% use of disposable syringes and replace it with reusable prevention (RUP) syringes by 2020. RUP is a kind of syringe which becomes redundant after one use, on the other hand, if not disposed of correctly, disposable ones can be re-used leading to a number of diseases like hepatitis and HIV. According to the National Professional Officer, universal health coverage, WHO-India, switch from so-called disposable syringes will help in bringing down the prevalence of hepatitis B and C by 30-35%.
Approximately 1.34 crore Indians suffer from hepatitis C infection while the same number carry Hepatitis B infection. As per WHO, use of unsafe syringes is also associated with high transmission of HIV as 33,877 people contracted HIV due to unsafe injections across the world every year.…