The opening ceremony for the “Healthy Liver – Mongolia” programme took place last Friday, May 5^th, on Ulaanbaatar's the central Sukhbaatar Square. The programme for improving liver health was approved by the cabinet on April 12^th 2017.

The government programme will aim for improving knowledge about hepatitis, changing the public’s behavior and the earlier detection of infections and cancer. Steps will also be taken to eliminate the factors that lead to hepatitis infections in the future.

The goal, set by the government is to have cured 150 patients infected with Hep-C and dramatically reduce the death rate caused by liver cirrhosis and cancer by 2020.

Citizens in the 40-65 age group will be tested for Hepatic free-of-charge during 2017, and people aged 15-39 and 65 or older  will enjoy the same discount on hepatitis tests in 2018. Moreover, in the margin of the 'Healthy Liver–Mongolia' programme, pharmaceutical supplies for hepatitis and liver treatment will be discounted by health insurance and live transplant operations will be covered by the government.

According to current statistics, 2,160 out of the 5,991 total recorded cancer cases in 2016 were liver cancer. On average, in the past 10 years, 2,600 people have died of liver cancer, which means that this disease has been claiming seven lives each day, in Mongolia. The study, conducted jointly with the World Health Organization (WHO), shows that there might be up to 400 thousand people with the hepatic viruses; a serious figure when one considers that the total population of Mongolia is only three million!