Sierra Leone News: Health Ministry Conducts Free Screening for Hepatitis, a Public Health Concern
By Abu Bakarr Munu
Sierra Leone’s Health Ministry in collaboration with partners will on Saturday July 27, 2019, embarks on a free mass screening exercise of members of the public for one of the most prevalent forms of Hepatitis in the country, a senior official of the Ministry said Thursday.
The Director of Disease Prevention and Surveillance, Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Dr. Samuel Juana Smith, who doubles as the chairman National Hepatitis Task Force, told a news conference in Freetown that, hepatitis is now considered as a public health concern in Sierra Leone, and that it is as high as 26%.
Dr. Smith said that there are five distinct types of viral hepatitis (A, B, C, D and E) but that, hepatitis B is one of the most prevalent forms among the five distinct types and impacts ten times more people than HIV. Hepatitis is a viral infection of the liver, the organ that processes nutrients, filters the blood, and fight off infections.
Dr. Smith disclosed that that disease infects approximately 350 million people worldwide.
He said the commemoration of World Hepatitis Day on July 28 every year is to raise the awareness of among the populace, and that the free screening health exercise is one of the activities line-up commemorations on the theme: “Find the Missing Millions.”
He said viral hepatitis is transmitted through contact with blood or other body fluids of an infected person, and that if left untreated it could cause irreparable damage to the liver, altering its function completely, and in extreme cases leading to death.
He said the country is yet to do a national demography health survey of Hepatitis B prevalence in Sierra Leone, but there are authentic individual studies done in the past.
Highlighting some of the statistics, he said the prevalence among healthcare workers is between 8.7% (Massaquoi et al. 2018) and 10.1% (Qin et al.2018).
The prevalence among pregnant women is 6.2% (Wurie et al. 2005) to 11.3% (Torlesse et al. 1997); prevalence among blood donors 9.7% (Yambasu et al. 2018) to 15.2% (Ngegba et al. 2010); in school going children, the prevalence is 16.7% (Hudges et al.1998). He said that a routine patient population have a prevalence of 13.7% (Ansumana et al. 2018) to 21.7% (Adesida et al. 2010); and among People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIVs) is 21.7% (Yendewa et al. 2019).
The Health and Sanitation Minister, Dr. Alpha Tejan Wurie the role of the media is critical in the fight against hepatitis in terms of spreading the news and educating the masses in order for people to know the aliment. He noted that when the liver, which is key organ is inflamed could lead to cancer, and that there is no cancer treatment in Sierra Leone.
Therefore, he stressed the need for people to inculcate the regular practise of personal hygiene such as washing hands after using the toilet, digging of the nostrils and frequently before eating. He pointed out that, the prevalence of hepatitis in Sierra Leone on average is 6 to 21% which he said is huge.
Earlier, Rev. Dr. Thomas T. Samba noted that, the population of any country is the best resource and protect it is the best a country can do.
He also noted that, the bad news is that the disease is growing in our communities and the prevalence is high, but that the good news is that they are working on curtailing its which is achievable.
