Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health has disclosed that nearly 20 million Nigerians are infected with Hepatitis B or C.
This was made known by the health minister while speaking at the launch of the national strategic framework for viral hepatitis and the flag-off ceremony of a nationwide hepatitis awareness campaign, in commemoration of this year’s World Hepatitis Day themed ‘Bringing Hepatitis Care Closer to You’ on Monday, July 25.
Osagie noted that there is very low awareness about the infections.
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The infections according to the Minister are under-reported, under-diagnosed, and under-treated; while stigma and discrimination against those infected also posed challenges.
According to Daily Trust report, the World Health Organisation, Nigeria Representative, Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said in Africa, Nigeria had one of the highest burdens of viral hepatitis with a national hepatitis B prevalence rate of 8.1 percent and a hepatitis C prevalence rate of 1.1 percent among adults aged 15-64 years.
Mulombo added that by introducing the hepatitis B birth dose and the pentavalent vaccine into routine childhood immunization schedules in 2004, Nigeria is contributing to the global achievement of the reduction of hepatitis B infections in children.
He urged Nigeria to mobilize domestic funds for a national hepatitis B and C treatment programme.
Oliver Stolpe, Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said to effectively raise awareness about hepatitis care, the focus should be on vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations such as people injecting drugs as well as people in custodial centres and other closed settings “because the prevalence of HCV is higher in prisons compared to the general populations”.
