Hepatitis: Africa’s 2030 Strategic Elimination Plan

Esther Oluku

With the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) vision to eliminate the Hepatitis virus from Africa by 2030, countries across Africa are taking the message to the grassroots to ensure a healthy and hepatitis free world in the near future.

The disease which has several variants of A, B, C, D and E respectively is an inflammation of the liver caused by the Hepatitis virus. 

In severe cases, this can lead to full breakdown of this organ of the body causing health complications such as liver cancer and ultimately death if not properly managed. 

The methods of transmission include; sexual intercourse, sharing of sharp objects with an infected person, blood transfusion, from a pregnant mother to an unborn child, etc.

Abbot Laboratories international while spearheading the discussion on Africa’s Strategic plan called together medical practitioners leading the fight against Hepatitis in various countries across Africa to draw a consensus on the progress thus far.

The discussion which centered around Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), drew specific recommendations from Prof. Spearman whose focus was on HCV with Dr. Beyagira and Dr. Serumondo focusing on HBV.

Since the discovery of the HCV variant in 1989, WHO statistics record 5.3 per cent  prevalence in Sub- Saharan Africa with areas of high prevalences recording 6 per cent prevalence in Central Africa, 2.4 per cent prevalence in West And 1.6 per cent  in Eastern and Southern Sub-Sahara.

 Spearman therefore opined that although sensitisation and vaccination campaigns have been led by the WHO, a lot of Africans still need to be aware.

A large proportion of Africans still need to be screened to ascertain their health status. People advocacy is what changes the outcomes. Also, more importantly access to health care. 

The general knowledge among the public and caregivers is that there is no cure. In earlier times, doctors couldn’t treat them and if they could, they didn’t have access to the vaccines or it was unaffordable for most people. So it comes down to education. 

Hepatitis is a problem but it is treatable an curable”, she said. 

On his part, Dr. Serumondo emphasised that sensitisation is important and all stakeholders ought to be mobilised with government support, price reduction for vaccines, accessibility and decentralisation of treatment to all the facilities where they are needed. 

“In Rwanda, we have a government commitment to funding of the process”, he said.

Serumondo also noted that with the intervention of the government over six million people have been tested and fifty thousand treated in Rwanda.

Adding to the discussion, Dr. Beyagira said that in Uganda, as part of the government’s strategies to achieve the 2030 target of eliminating Hepatitis in Africa, the government of Uganda donates about $3m every year to the fight against Hepatitis B.

“Every year, we receive about $3m in funding from the government for procurement of vaccines for laboratory agents and for procurement of anti viral drugs and these are all geared towards eliminating the virus”, she said.