THE Federal Government has lamented that despite significant rate of hepatitis infection, there is very low awareness about the infection as well as under-reporting, under-diagnosed and under-treated and stigma and discrimination of those infected.
Consequently, it said nearly 20 million people are living with either hepatitis B or C in Nigeria which still poses public health challenges in the country.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire who spoke at the commemoration of the 2022 World Hepatitis Day (WHD) in Abuja, lamented the viral hepatitis which remains a public health threat, especially hepatitis B and C, which cause chronic infection with attendant morbidity and mortality.
Ehanire said: “The spread of Hepatitis B and C, similar to HIV, is fueled by unsafe sexual behaviour and injection practices, unsafe blood transfusion, harmful practices such as sharing of sharp objects for scarification marks, tattoos, among others and mother-to-child transmission.
“We acknowledge the need to do much more than before to address this. The global theme for this year is “Bringing Hepatitis care closer to you.”
Ehanire maintained that in line with this year’s theme, the Federal Ministry of Health with support from its partners, is taking concrete steps to ensure that hepatitis care is brought closer to every Nigerian.
“Important policy and strategic documents as well as treatment protocols for viral hepatitis have been developed in line with the Global Health Sector Strategy for viral hepatitis control.
“You may be aware that in May this year at the 75th World Health Assembly, WHO member states approved a new Global Health Sector Strategy for Viral Hepatis. I am happy to inform you that Nigeria has, in alignment with the new strategy, developed our own national strategic framework for viral Hepatitis aimed at achieving the global target of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030.
‘“As a country committed to elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030, the need to create public awareness cannot be overemphasised. Together with this, we need to build capacity of healthcare providers, expand access to diagnosis and treatment and improve community engagement as well as political leadership at all levels.”
The WHO country representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said: In Africa, Nigeria has one of the highest burdens of viral hepatitis with a national hepatitis B (HBV) prevalence rate of 8.1 per cent, and a hepatitis C (HCV) prevalence rate is 1.1 per cent among adult aged 15 to 64 years.
“There is a lack of awareness among the general populace as evidenced by a low uptake of available preventive services.
“High cost of treatment and out-of-pocket payment are identified impediments for treatment access for people that are aware of their status. In recent years, there had been a growing political commitment at country level.
“By introducing the hepatitis B Birth dose and the pentavalent (DTP-HepB-Hib) vaccine into routine childhood immunisation schedule since 2004, Nigeria is contributing to the global achievement of the reduction of hepatitis B infections in children.”
Also, the country representative of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), represented by Uduak Daniel, noted that to effectively raise awareness about hepatitis care to communities and individuals, focus on vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations such as people who inject drugs (PWIDs), as well as people in custodial centres and other closed settings is imperative.
She said that the use of prevalence of HCV is higher in prisons compared to the general population, adding that there was no known published national HCV prevalence study in prisons.
She said that an independent study conducted in 2020 among 142 people aged 18-50 years in a custodial centre in Nigeria showed a HCV prevalence of 29.6 per can’t, adding that the prevalence was twice higher among men (31.0%) compared to women (15.4%).
“UNODC continues to support Nigeria’s achievement of universal access to comprehensive cascade of relevant health services for PWIDs and for people in custodial centres,” she said.
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