World Health Organisation (WHO) has disclosed that
an estimated 200,000 persons die in Africa annually due to liver complications
caused by hepatitis disease.
The world health body also stated that despite the
availability of diagnostic tools and effective treatment, less than one in
every 10 of the 71 million people with hepatitis A or B have access to testing.
This was contained in a message issued by the WHO
Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, in Abuja at the weekend as
part of the build-up to mark the 2019 World Hepatitis Day.
Moeti said WHO developed a hepatitis scorecard in
June this year to help monitor and track progress being made to check the
disease prevalence across Africa.
According to Moeti, the scorecard shows that "the
highest burden of hepatitis B infection in children under five years is seen in
countries without hepatitis B birth dose vaccination in combination with
suboptimal coverage under (90 percent) of childhood ‘pantevalent’ vaccination
and testing as well as treatment, as a public health approach remains the most
neglected aspect of the response."
The WHO scribe expressed the hope that just as the
focus of the theme of this years' world hepatitis day is on pulling more
resources to address the scourge, getting government to show more commitment and
invest more money will help eliminate
the disease by 2030.
While commending Rwanda and Uganda for providing free
access to hepatitis treatment, the global health organisation urged member
states of the Africa Union to invest more in public health campaign aimed at
eliminating hepatitis B and C by carrying hepatitis B vaccination for all
newborn.
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