Description
This program travels to Cambodia, where 1 in 10 people carry hepatitis B, a major cause of liver cancer. Mothers often transmit the virus to their babies during childbirth and children can pass the infection to each other through even the most minor cuts and scratches.
At London’s Hammersmith Hospital, pioneering new surgery makes it possible for patients to survive advanced liver cancer.
In Cambodia, neither the money nor the expertise to adopt the new medical techniques are available. Instead, Cambodia is the first country in the region to embark on a mass vaccination program.
The vaccine will not just prevent hepatitis B, it will also prevent liver cancer.
First, though, the country must overcome the logistical challenges of the program in a part of the world still shattered by the effects of civil war and poverty.
This film is part of the KILL OR CURE series of 57 x 25-minute documentaries produced for the BBC. These films can be bought individually or as a series.