Kabul, Jul 28 (IANS): Nearly 15,000 people have been infected with hepatitis B and C viruses in Afghanistan in the past year, the country's Ministry of Public Health reported on Sunday.

Nearly 15,000 people have been infected with hepatitis viruses over the past one year, among whom 12,000 are affected with hepatitis B and about 1,300 others contracted with hepatitis C, said Mawlawi Abdul Wali Haqqani, Deputy Minister for Health Services for the ministry in a ceremony that marked the World Hepatitis Day, Xinhua news agency reported.

Based on anticipations, over 100,000 people in Afghanistan have been infected with hepatitis, including 70,000 with hepatitis B and 30,000 cases with hepatitis C in the past one decade, said Haqqani, adding that the number of hepatitis cases in Afghanistan is decreasing.

According to Haqqani, displacement, migrations, poverty, use of drugs, use of self-medication, donating blood without examinations, and non-observing hygiene were among the reasons for the spread of hepatitis viruses in Afghanistan.

Treatment and control hepatitis diagnosis centers are active in 12 out of 34 provinces of Afghanistan and health services are available among the people, who are infected with this viruses in other eight provinces, Haqqani added.