{"id":4188,"date":"2019-07-29T14:38:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T11:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=4188"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:26","slug":"the-who-wants-to-rid-the-world-of-hepatitis-by-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/07\/29\/the-who-wants-to-rid-the-world-of-hepatitis-by-2030\/","title":{"rendered":"The WHO Wants To Rid The World Of Hepatitis By 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) rolled\nout its global\nstrategy<\/a> to eliminate hepatitis by 2030 four years ago. Known\nas a \u201csilent killer\u201d disease, hepatitis is a viral disease that causes\ninflammation of the liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hepatitis is a major public health burden. In 2015 the WHO\nestimated that 328\nmillion people<\/a> globally were living with hepatitis B and\nC. In the same year there were 1.34 million deaths from viral hepatitis. That\u2019s\nhigher than deaths caused by AIDS and comparable to TB fatalities. It\u2019s the\nseventh leading cause of death worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, hepatitis B is\nthe most common form of the illness. Last year it was reported that 6.1%<\/a> of\nthe population was infected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hepatitis B is spread through infected body fluids. This\ncan either be through sex with an infected partner, at birth from an infected\nmother to her baby or through direct contact with an infected person\u2019s open\nwounds or blood. There is also risk from sharing syringes, razors or\ntoothbrushes with infected persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key strategy for managing hepatitis B is prevention by\nbeing vaccinated. Hepatitis B is also manageable, through oral anti-viral drugs\nwhich in most cases must be taken for life. This is because the treatment, in\nmost people, only leads to the suppression of the virus and not its complete\neradication. To prevent its progression, the recommendation is that treatment\nbegins within the first three months of infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made vaccination\nand post-infection therapy available. But the number of those infected annually\nand dying from viral hepatitis remains high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WHO\u2019s 2030 deadline is feasible. But it may not be\nachieved because of the prevailing low vaccination coverage in sub-Saharan\nAfrica coupled with limited\nhealthcare budgets<\/a> that are unable to make diagnostics and\ntreatment available to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenges<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are different forms of hepatitis, ranging from A, B,\nC, D, and E<\/a>. Each is caused by a different type of virus.\nUnfortunately, most people who have the most serious forms of the disease \u2013\nparticularly the B and C viruses \u2013 are unaware of infection. This allows the\ninfection to spread unchecked, leading to serious damage to the liver. This\nmeans that the organ can\u2019t carry out its main function which is to filter blood\ncoming in from the digestive system before directing it to the rest of the\nbody, and detoxification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the plan calls for the effective prevention of new\ninfections through a universal roll-out of the hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine,\nensuring that all children receive their vaccines on time, increased access to\naffordable diagnostics to identify Hepatitis B-infected individuals, and\nimprove linkages to care and antiviral therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection in\nchildren younger than 5, estimated at 1.3% in 2015, can be attributed to the\nwidespread use of the hepatitis B vaccine. However, while the health body\nrecorded a 43% birth dose vaccination rate globally in 2017 (against its 50%\ntarget by 2020), sub-Saharan Africa still presents a challenge: there,\nvaccination coverage is at 10%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the number of those infected annually and dying from\nviral hepatitis remains high because there\u2019s a lack of awareness about\ninfection status, the rapid spread of liver disease and limited treatment\noptions, particularly in developing countries. In the developed world, liver\ntransplant is sometimes used as a form of therapy for those at an advanced\nstage of infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are, however, positive developments. For example, the\ncost of treatment in the past three years has greatly reduced due to generic\nmanufacturing. This and other initiatives to expand access make affordable\ndiagnostic and treatment services for many more in developing countries a\npossibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s needed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many countries have included the global strategy\u2019s\ninitiatives in their national hepatitis elimination plans and stepped\nactivities to ensure prevention through vaccination and making drugs readily\navailable in public health facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda presents a success story of\nwhat is possible as one of the first countries in Africa to fund domestic\ninitiatives to eliminate hepatitis. Through community mobilisation and\nawareness and a free hepatitis\nB screening campaign in 2015<\/a>, people were screened and\nthose found to be positive can now receive treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The East African country recently convened a regional stakeholders\u2019\nforum<\/a> to rally more support towards the prevention and\nelimination of hepatitis. This was the first such meeting in the WHO\u2019s Africa\nregion. Such gatherings serve to provide avenues for sharing best practices, as\nseen in Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But more partnerships and greater domestic and\ninternational funding efforts are needed to promote prevention, diagnosis and\ntreating efforts. Public-private partnerships are critical to efforts to\neliminate hepatitis, as elsewhere in the health sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the reduced funding for global health, it is\nimportant that governments create opportunities for private-sector investors to\nsupport access to diagnostics and treatment. These, together with national\nvaccination and awareness campaigns with emphasis on hard to reach populations\nwill help to ensure that \u201cno one is left behind\u201d, in the spirit of reaching the\n2030 goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, there is need for more evidence on existing\nservices, pathways and barriers to access to diagnostics and care. Aggregation\nof data in-country (at the sub-national and national levels) and integrated\ntesting for HIV and hepatitis (7.4% of people living with HIV are also infected\nwith hepatitis B) should also be rolled out in many more countries. Read the\noriginal Article<\/a> on The conversation.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) rolled out its global strategy to eliminate hepatitis by 2030 four years ago. Known as a \u201csilent killer\u201d disease, hepatitis is a viral disease…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}