If not for the
donation of blood, Mr Akowe would not have known he had the viral infection
that can cause a chronic infection, cirrhosis, and liver cancer, if not
managed.
“Not until that day
I don’t know anything about hepatitis though I have been hearing the name. I
never noticed or felt any symptoms,” he told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday evening.
Like Mr Akowe, many
Nigerians have very little knowledge of this disease transmitted through unsafe
injection practices.
If you are not
aware, you will not get tested and if you are not tested, the disease will not
be detected.
At least 30
Nigerians interviewed by this newspaper on Monday did not know some of the
common symptoms of hepatitis which include abdominal pain and fatigue. Some
have been screened for the disease but do not know there is a vaccine that can
protect them against the viral infection.
Many victims of the
disease have not been lucky to detect it early. Most times, the disease is
diagnosed at a late stage or after it has caused other damages to their bodies,
especially the liver.
Mr Akowe was one of
the few people who detected their status early when there was still a chance
for treatment.
“The doctors said my
test result showed my immune systems had been protecting me against the disease
and that was why I was having no symptoms,” he said. “They said I was lucky to
have come for screening on time, I was prescribed drugs to boost my immune
system.”
World Hepatitis Day
World Hepatitis Day
(WHD) takes places every year on July 28, to bring the world together under a
single theme and to raise awareness of the global burden of viral hepatitis in
order to influence real change.
This year’s theme,
Hepatitis-free future, holds a strong focus on preventing hepatitis B among
mothers and newborns, and spreading awareness about the disease amid COVID-19
pandemic.
So, it becomes all
the more crucial to know about the nature, prevention, and treatment of these
viral illnesses.
Health experts have
repeatedly pointed to poor awareness and screening for Hepatitis as a major
reason why the infection has remained endemic in Nigeria.
2030 target
According to the
World Health Organisation (WHO), dying of viral hepatitis in Africa is now a
bigger threat than dying of AIDS, malaria, or tuberculosis. Yet, hepatitis does
not usually get the awareness and funding it deserves.
Nigeria is among
African nations that signed to a Global Health Sector Strategy (GHHS) target
set by the WHO in 2016 to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat
by 2030, and provided to run from 2016–2021.
This strategy has
been adopted and endorsed by 194 countries. The aim is to reduce new hepatitis
infections by 90 per cent and deaths by 65 per cent between 2016 and 2030.
Currently, only 12
countries are on track to eliminate hepatitis by 2030.
Viral hepatitis
kills more than 1.3 million people each year, more than HIV/AIDs or Malaria,
yet there is a cure for hepatitis C and a vaccine and effective treatment for
hepatitis B.
The 4,000 deaths
each day caused by viral hepatitis are preventable. Currently, 290 million
people live with viral hepatitis, completely unaware, and one of the key
reasons is a lack of knowledge about the disease.
Nigeria is off-track
from meeting its target.
Hepatitis B,
according to the Ministry of Health, has a national prevalence of 11 per cent
while hepatitis C has a prevalence of 2.2 per cent. Both have become leading
silent killers in the country; more than half of the nation’s population are
believed to never have been tested and, therefore, do not know their infection
status.
Ignorance
Mike Omotosho, a
public health expert and President of Hepatitis Zero Nigeria Commission, said
about 17 to 21 million Nigerians estimated to be living with viral hepatitis do
not know that they are infected, “placing them at greater risk for severe, even
fatal, complications from the disease”.
According to him,
the level of knowledge of the viral infection remains low amongst Nigerians
despite the fact that it is a leading cause of death and claims the lives of
many each year.
“The major problem
is that a lot of people are not aware of. It is so bad that when you talk to 10
people, each of them will have ‘something’ to say about hepatitis. Most people
do not know what hepatitis really is or even its symptoms, causes or prevention.
“Almost 20 million
Nigerians are working around with the hepatitis virus. Also, less than 5
million of those people know their status.
“If you truly do not
know your status, you may not be able to know what to do next. So, testing is
very important. If a person gets tested and he or she is unfortunate that it is
hepatitis B, there are luckily HIV management facilities and some of those
drugs are actually similar.
“As scary as COVID
19, there is actually another disease that kills more people than COVID.
Hepatitis actually kills more people than COVID. Almost 500 million people
globally suffer hepatitis and out of these numbers, 1.4 million die every year
globally, meaning that about 4000 people die from hepatitis and it’s related
illness daily. Hepatitis is a silent killer.”
Poor funding
Besides poor
awareness and lack of screening, there are also gaps in the diagnosis and
treatment of viral hepatitis in Nigeria. The cost of diagnosis and treatment is
another challenge.
Nnabuchi Chidinma, a
consultant gastroenterologist & hepatologist, Asokoro District Hospital,
said a lot of NGOs and Civil Society Organisations have taken it upon
themselves to go out into the community to screen people and also educate them
on the infection “but the government has not done much in putting funds
together to fight this disease”.
Nigeria does not
have the political will and a robust budget line to support the elimination of
this silent killer disease that infects more than 20 million people in our
country every year, Ifeanyi Ekeh, a public health expert said.
Most donor agencies
have traditionally focused on HIV and TB rather than hepatitis, which means the
disease been grossly underfunded.
In Nigeria, the
hepatitis B vaccine has been included as part of the immunisation schedule for
children since 2004. This has helped reduce hepatitis B rates in children.
However, rates in adults have gone up.
This stems from a
lack of knowledge about the disease, and poor health-seeking behaviours, which
makes screening for viral hepatitis difficult, according to an article
published by the Nigerian Health Watch during last year’s World Hepatitis Day.
If the Nigerian
government is to reduce the burden of viral hepatitis by 2030 in line with
global objectives, it must also find a way to reduce the cost of hepatitis
treatment for Nigerians and make screening free, health experts say.
Low coverage of
testing and treatment is the most important gap to be addressed if Nigeria is
to achieve the global elimination goals by 2030.
Ailment
Hepatitis has
various modes of transmission but is commonly spread by exposure to infected
body fluids.
It can be spread
through sweat, needle-sharing, mother to child transmission at birth, and
unsafe blood transfusion.
Some of the symptoms
of the disease include: yellowing of the eyes, abdominal pain, and dark urine.
While some people particularly do not experience any symptoms, it could lead to
chronic cases, liver failure, cancer, or scarring.
Chronic cases
require medication and possibly a liver transplant.
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