One of every 20 Britons of Pakistani origin suffers from hepatitis: NGO

E-Paper | March 10, 2026

ISLAMABAD: One out of every 20 Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom is suffering from hepatitis, says a non-governmental organisation.

According to a press release issued by the Maslaha NGO, hepatitis virus often silently attacks people showing no symptoms until the disease reaches an advanced stage.

The NGO, which has been working since 2007, says that with financial help from Barts Charity, it has launched its website understandhepbandc.org with films in English and Urdu as part of a campaign to encourage Pakistanis living in UK to understand, prevent and get tested for hepatitis B and C.

The films combine medical and cultural references to encourage early testing and decrease stigma.

Govt urged to make new hepatitis drug affordable

According to the NGO, among the British Pakistani community, hepatitis B is most commonly transferred at birth from infected mothers, and hepatitis C is most commonly transferred through poor medical and dental practices in Pakistan and other developing countries. This includes unsterilised injections, transfusions, vaccinations, haircuts and nose and ear piercing.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2014

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kirpal

Jul 19, 2014 09:12am

Most of the people of Pakistani origin forcibly marry their daughters to first cousins just for the sake of false izzat or ghairat. This has resulted in many children of such couples having birth defects. Probably hepatitis among the large number of people of Pakistani origin in UK may also be due to marriage between first cousins. At least for the sake of future generations this practice needs to be stopped

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Muhammad Aslam

Jul 19, 2014 12:29pm

Hi, In Pakistan hepatitis C is most commonly transferred from dentist, I am also patient of hepatitis C, but after treatment I am passing a happy life, the material used in our dentists for patient treatment is not safe, and they are not using latest techniques and equipment, So please avoid dentist and if you are suffering any teeth related disease find an appropriate dentist so you will be save for future losses. Government need to educate dentists so they will make possible that their equipments are save from HCV virus.

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Moiz Omar

Jul 19, 2014 01:16pm

The problem in Pakistan is that most common people have no sense of even basic hygiene, and tend to marry people of close family patronage such as first cousins. This dramatically increases the chance of offspring of having genetic problems.

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Ganga Din

Jul 19, 2014 02:46pm

These people live in Britian, right? What kind of medical care are they receiving? Viral transmission at birth can be recognized and prevented.

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gagan sarkar

Jul 19, 2014 02:57pm

@kirpal First cousin marriage ends with handicapped babies. One third of all handicapped children born in UK are from Pakistani families, and this is due to cousin marriage. But whenever doctors try to say this, Muslims, cry of Islamophobia, and the government, goes backwards.

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Akhtar

Jul 19, 2014 03:06pm

@kirpal I agree with what you said. Even educated people ignore the fact that First cousin marriages result in children who will have birth defects - more than people who have abandoned such practices. It seems Pakistanis practice this outdated and dangerous practice more than others. Although Hepatitis is not gene defect disease and can be transferred to anyone who comes in to contact with it.

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Sheikh Khalid

Jul 19, 2014 03:10pm

"However, at least 30% of reported hepatitis B among adults cannot be associated with an identifiable risk factor" Shapiro CN (May 1993). "Epidemiology of hepatitis B". Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 12 (5): 433

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Sher Jatt

Jul 19, 2014 04:56pm

@gagan sarkar This is a false statistic. Please provide the link that confirms a rate of 33%. I am aware that cousin marriages are unacceptable but the statistic you gave is wrong.

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edwardian

Jul 19, 2014 06:13pm

@kirpal ..The news is regarding hepatitis. How on earth did you connect hepatitis with cousin marriage. That's true that education not necessary improves common-sense, if anyone has.

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Pakistani

Jul 19, 2014 07:30pm

I Don't think hepatitis has anything to do with marriages among cousin. Sorry neighbors, keep your usual criticism for another subject.

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weq

Jul 19, 2014 08:23pm

Because they take full service massages with public funds that state supports the useless people with

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Dr Khan

Jul 19, 2014 11:17pm

@kirpal hepatitis is not a genetic disease.It will be transmitted from anyone having this disease even if he is or not first cousin.

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Dr Khan

Jul 19, 2014 11:23pm

@gagan sarkar I have not seen this research which indicated that a third of uk handicaps are born in Pakistani families.Could you send me the reference

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Dr Khan

Jul 19, 2014 11:35pm

@Sheikh Khalid that does not mean that there was no risk factor.it means it was not identified.every one has haircut and many a times it can be transmitted .however it does not mean that it has some mysterious cause which is not yet identifiable.it is a virus which is transmitted from one person to another.

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taloot

Jul 20, 2014 01:36am

@kirpal Innocent comment! Hepatitus is a communicable disease, can be contracted through a variety of sources; none of them is cousin marriage.

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kirpal

Jul 20, 2014 05:32am

@taloot Probably children out of marriage between first cousins develop less immunity to fight diseases

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gagan sarkar

Jul 20, 2014 11:51am

@Dr Khan ''Nearly a third (31 per cent) of birth defects in Pakistani origin babies could be attributed to marriage between blood relatives, researchers from the University of Bradford and the University of Leeds said'' http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/marriage-between-first-cousins-doubles-risk-of-having-baby-with-lifethreatening-birth-defects-8686232.html

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Sajjad

Jul 20, 2014 12:07pm

@Akhtar Where has it been proven these marriages result in birth defects? The reasons for the Hep C is given in the article, it doesn't mention cousin marriages. As for stopping cousin marriages, actually to a point it is medically proven that children from cousin marriages suffer less hear related issues and live longer. This of course means that cousin marriages don't continue for generations as they sometimes do. And actually, this practice is decreasingly aggressively amongst the British Pakistani's. My point being, don't take the discussion and deviate it and don't encourage those who are deviating the point.

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SMQ Zaman

Jul 21, 2014 09:52am

don't how Gagan Sarkar came to the conclusion that 1/3rd of handicap children are born to Pakistani marriages between first-cousins? I'm not aware of any such research study and like Dr Khan, I should be interested to know the source of such a study, too, due to my personal interest and experience with children's charities (esp. disabled). These genetic or even God-given handicaps (under Islamic and some other belief systems) can and do happen except that the risk in marriage among close family-members is higher than those with distant ethnicity.

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