Amitabh Bachchan appointed WHO goodwill ambassador for Hepatitis

May 12, 2017

Mumbai, May 12: Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed by the World Health Organization as its Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region to boost awareness and intensify action to arrest the hepatitis epidemic.

amitabh“I am absolutely committed to the cause of hepatitis. As a person living with hepatitis B, I know the pain and sufferings that hepatitis causes. No one should ever suffer from viral hepatitis,” Bachchan said at an event here organized by World Health Organization.

Announcing Mr Bachchan’s association with WHO, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia, said, “this historic association is expected to help strengthen WHO’s efforts in reducing the high numbers of premature deaths and illnesses from viral hepatitis which is not only causing hardships to individuals and families, but also impacting health and development across the region."

Though preventable, viral hepatitis kills 410,000 people in the region every year, mostly people in their productive years. Nearly 90 million people suffer from chronic liver disease that is driving rates of liver cancer and cirrhosis in the region, according to the latest WHO estimates released this year.

As WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in the region, Bachchan will lend his voice and support to public awareness programmes that aim to scale up preventive measures and advocate for early diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis to reduce the disease burden.

Among preventive measures, hepatitis B vaccination – a dose within 24 hours of birth followed by three doses in the first six months of life, as per the national immunization schedule of countries in the region, – provides protection and prevents mother-to-child transmission of the disease. Safe practices related to injections, blood transfusions and other procedures can prevent the spread of hepatitis B and C while clean water and hygienic food can reduce the risk of hepatitis A and E infection.

This is the first formal association between WHO and Bachchan, who served as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Polio in India, and has been supporting and promoting various health related issues in the country such as childhood immunization programme, tuberculosis and ‘clean India’ campaign.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Washington, Mar 11: Pop star Selena Gomez made some revelations about her personal life in a recent interview.

While explaining the lyrics of her song "Rare" on the 'Genius' YouTube channel, the 27-year-old said that there are times when she feels that she will ever be able to find a suitable partner for herself, reported Fox News.

"Some days when I wake up and I am annoyed and I am like, 'I am going to be alone forever.' But after that 15 minutes go away, I say to myself, 'I know that there is someone for everybody," the singer told in the seven-and-a-half minute long video.

However, she remains optimistic as she is still young and "this isn't the end all be all".

Elaborating upon the chorus of her song, Gomez opened up and said, "self-esteem and confidence is a constant struggle".

"It's getting better with time and age, but it will always be something that I'm working on," she added while explaining the lyrics further.

"So what I think is so important about this chorus is that it's acknowledging, 'Hey, I don't have it all. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do know that I'm special,' and I think that is a humble approach of saying, 'Why don't you see that I am different?'" the singer added as reported by Fox News.

Touching upon her experiences from past relationships, she commented: "In certain relationships, I've heard and I've experienced and whatnot, I think men and women do it -- especially teenagers and young people in love -- is there's this satisfaction out of hurting someone because you know that they care. Purposefully putting someone down because they want to keep them at a level. I've had someone actually say that to me before".

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News Network
June 20,2020

New Delhi, Jun 20: Taking cues from her own experience, actor Deepika Padukone on Saturday emphasised that people suffering from depression cannot 'snap out' of the mental health condition.

Continuing with her daily practice of posting mental health messages for people struggling with depression and other issues, Padukone posted the recent message on social media.

"Repeat after me: You cannot 'snap out' of depression," Padukone wrote on Twitter.

Padukone had started with the series of mental health quotes after the sudden demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who committed suicide by hanging himself at his Bandra residence in Mumbai.

The 'Tamasha' actor started voicing her opinion on the importance of mental health through her foundation 'The Live Love Laugh Foundation' (TLLLF) in June 2015. Through the platform, the actor keeps launching nationwide awareness as well as destigmatisation campaigns.

Meanwhile, scores of comments followed on her latest post on mental health, where netizens too shared their take on mental health.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Feb 6: The Income Tax Department on Thursday recovered Rs 65 crores from the residence of Tamil actor Joseph Vijay's financer in Chennai during raids which were carried out in the connection with an alleged tax evasion case linked to AGS Cinemas, said sources.

The department is conducting raids and surveys at Actor Vijay, Financer and Producer Anbu Chezhiyan residences.

Around 38 premises have been covered in the raid.

According to IT sources the counting of money is still on so there are chances that the amount will rise. Vijay's wife was at Chennai home when IT sleuths carried out a raid at his residence.

Speaking on the reports of the Actor being intervened during the shooting of the film, the income tax official said, "Actor Vijay was not picked up between his shooting as reported in some media reports."

The actor was shooting for his upcoming film "Master in Neyveli" when he received the news of the raid.

"Actor Vijay had cut short his shooting and returned to his home immediately after getting the news of raids, now the officials are ready to facilitate him to continue his shooting if he wishes to," sources from Income Tax told news agency.

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