Inaccurate statistical data which are not even available in most countries makes measuring the burden on the lives and the population of sub-Saharan Africa difficult. Hepatitis B though, which i like to refer as the baddest guy of the lot seems to enjoy some attention in terms of available data. The data which is widely available suggests that between 15-60% of the normal population in many African countries may be positive for Hepatitis B infection Liver disease was the third most common (12.1%) of all 4,568 deaths on the medical wards of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria over a 14-year period.
You may think that isn't a huge number, but that is just in one hospital. There are over twenty university teaching hospitals in Nigeria and several thousand other private hospitals, clinics and health centres, scattered across the country. In some cases, the doctors or health practitioners who lack knowledge of the HBV just keep treating patients for such ailments as Malaria of typhoid fever. By the time they are referred and drained of their wages it is too late and the liver is damaged, at this point the patients are managed until their impending death. In University College Hospital Ibadan of all causes of deaths from liver disease, PLCC (Primary Liver Cell Carcinoma, a sort of cancer) alone accounted for 42.5% while liver cirrhosis (another form of cancer) accounted for 21.1% of the deaths.
In the two cancerous cases HBV (Hepatitis Virus) was the common cause. PLCC, which accounted for 491 out of 100,000 admissions in that teaching hospital, was the commonest malignancy on the medical wards and was the commonest cause of deaths from cancers in middle-aged and elderly Nigerians.
There is a need for control of hepatitis particularly hepatitis B virus infection through health education, active immunization of all new-born and other people at risk in Africa. Which is what we are trying to campaign for.
We still intend to run our online awareness campaign targeting the youth and using various new media and social media channels. This we hope will help us keep the virus in check and educate people on how they can be free of the virus just by vaccination. The Lagos state government is doing a very laudable job in the health care sector and we would like to commend the Government especially in the areas of child and maternal care.
We would love to hear from people in other countries in Africa who have have lived with the Virus or have lost a loved one through the virus, particularly from Senegal and Gambia in West Africa, Morocco in North Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in East Africa. We will also love to hear from our brothers in Southern Africa
Please do remember that, no member of this blog is a medical expert, we are just a team dedicated to enlightening our youths on the dangers of the Hepatitis Virus. I suffered it, i know how dangerous it is.
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