The World Health Organization (WHO) informed yesterday, Wednesday July 27, 2022, ahead of World Hepatitis Day, that more than 91 million Africans are living with hepatitis B or hepatitis C, which are the deadliest strains of the virus.
Regarding, the 2021 Viral Hepatitis Dashboard which examines data from the African Region with a focus on hepatitis B and C, which cause cases of cirrhosis and liver cancer, the WHO notes that more than 8% of the total population of 19 countries are infected with the hepatitis B virus, while the prevalence of hepatitis C is above 1% in 18 countries. In 2020, the African Region accounted for 26% of the global disease burden due to hepatitis B and C, with 125,000 associated deaths. “About 70% of hepatitis B cases worldwide are concentrated in Africa.
Symptoms of the disease appearing several decades after infection with the virus; this is particularly worrisome for the future as the Region accounts for 70% of all hepatitis B cases worldwide in children under five (5) years old; or 4.5 million African children infected. Currently, 33 countries have a prevalence of hepatitis B greater than 1% in children under 5 years old, which represents a slight improvement compared to the 40 countries listed in 2019”, informed the WHO in its message of fight against disease.
Faced with this observation, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa argued that “hepatitis has been described as a silent epidemic, but this dashboard comes to ring the alarm bell for the Region. and the rest of the world. We must do better and prevent this disease from stealing our children’s future. There is a safe and effective vaccine that provides estimated nearly 100% protection against hepatitis B, one of the deadliest strains of the virus. We must ensure that all African children are vaccinated within 24 hours of birth and then receive at least two additional doses of the vaccine.”
Routine childhood immunization coverage for hepatitis B, currently estimated at 72% in the Region, is well below the global target of 90%, the level at which the virus will no longer pose a threat, according to the dashboard. for public health. “The number of countries with coverage above 90% increased from 23 in 2019 to 27 in 2021. Additionally, although birth vaccination is only administered in 14 African countries, with an overall coverage of 10 %, this is an increase compared to the 11 countries of 2019”, she estimated. Hepatitis can be transmitted through contaminated blood products, hence the need for further progress to ensure blood safety. However, in the African Region, only 80% of blood donations are screened with quality assurance, while 5% of syringes are reused.
Injecting drug users receive only six (6) syringes each; while the annual global objective is 200 syringes per person. Diagnosis and treatment rates are also particularly low, as the dashboard shows. According to the WHO, in 2021, only 2% of people infected with the hepatitis B virus were diagnosed and barely 0.1% of them were treated.
With regard to hepatitis C, it is estimated that 5% of those infected have been diagnosed and almost 0% have been treated. “To reverse the trend, hepatitis services need to be transferred from specialist clinics to be redeployed to decentralized and integrated facilities, where most Africans continue to seek treatment. There should be more training of primary health care workers in the diagnosis and treatment of the virus,” Dr Moeti stressed. Hepatitis remains, for health actors, a major threat to public health in Africa.
For WHO, progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment has been hampered, between 2019 and 2021, due to insufficient implementation of hepatitis interventions in countries. To make a difference and accelerate the achievement of elimination goals, WHO has advocated that countries should prioritize the threat posed by hepatitis and bring treatment for the disease within reach of communities.
To achieve this, she said, “there is a need to: increase domestic funding dedicated to the elimination of HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis, establish a platform to provide integrated services such as the life course approach, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, immunization, investing in information and surveillance for better action”.