With an estimated 500 million people currently living with hepatitis, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2013, Nigeria and the rest of the world face severe health challenges if nothing is done to curtail the disease.
This was the position of stakeholders as Nigeria celebrated World Hepatitis Day on Thursday. Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Linus Awute disclosed that the disease is responsible for 1.44 million deaths globally, a situation that also threatens Nigerian health system.
Awute who spoke at a press briefing on the occasion commemorating the day also said that about 2 billion people have been infected with hepatitis B virus globally.
Though there was no available figure in Nigeria on the number of death, the Permanent Secretary however said report has revealed the prevalence of viral hepatitis B and C.
Hepatitis A and B he said are both vaccine preventable while hepatitis C is not, but has a new drug treatment that has shown to have high cure rate.
Viral Hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver caused by Hepatitis virus A, B, C, D and E.
Awute said despite the high prevalence, the awareness is still low about the disease as most people infected are unaware and are at risk of developing liver problems. Thisday
