About 2000 persons in several communities of Plateau State have received free hepatitis screening, vaccination against it by those who are negative, and medical advice and counselling, as well as referral for those found positive in order for them to pursue proper treatment with appropriate experts and medical facilities.

The medical outreach was organized by Healthy Liver Care Initiative, which is a non-profitable organization initiated in response to the high prevalence of preventable liver diseases including viral hepatitis, and liver problems in rural communities.

The event which took place in Lamingo area Jos the Plateau State capital on Saturday had people from different parts of Jos in attendance, and they got their medical attention accordingly.

Speaking at the event, Dr Peter Yaweh, who is the Founder of Healthy Liver Care Initiative said they are doing the outreach to assist the local communities as there are prevalent cases of hepatitis in the nation, but worse still those who have it are not even aware of it.

“We use different public health tools such as medical outreaches where we screen people, we vaccinate and we refer people for expert care to tertiary health institution. We also use weekly radio programmes and social media.

“All of this is with the aim to promote liver health amongst rural communities. This particular event is one of the activities under the campaign titled ‘One Liver One Life Campaign’, and the campaign will be reaching 2,000 individuals in three different communities,

“We are not doing this for activities sake, but because of the high prevalence of viral hepatitis. A lot of people are dying from it and people don’t even know that they have it. Statistic have it that in the world presently more than 300 million people are living with viral hepatitis. In Nigeria, up to 30 million people are living with it. And according to the world hepatitis alliance, nine out of 10 people living with it do not know that they are living with it.

“In every one minute, at least three people die of the disease. These statistics are just alarming, and the statistics will become much more than numbers when somebody close to us is affected. It is because of all the aforementioned and more that we are doing this.

“From a personal experience, I have lost a dear cousin and also a medical doctor who is also my teacher. So you can see that no one is spared; whether you are young or you are a doctor, as long as you are exposed to it, it will strike you. People should not be losing their lives or that of their loved ones to something that is completely preventable,” he said.

With respect to preventive measures of hepatitis and healthy living and lifestyles, he said
anybody can be affected, and so people don’t have to wait untill they are affected before getting screened and tested for viral hepatitis B and C, and that they should take care of themselves, get vaccinated if they are tested negative and if they are tested positive it’s not the end of the world as there are very good medications that can be used in the management of hepatitis.

He also called on people eat well, exercise, get tested alongside your friends, loved once and their families.

On whether it is curable, he said; “We are usually careful to say it is curable or not because people can misquote and then fly with the wrong information.

“For hepatitis B, there is no known cure, however for hepatitis C there are medications that can clear the virus after it’s been taken for some time. And the vaccine is taken in three doses; that is the first, second and third dose.

“And some people will usually need a booster dose after a period of time while some people don’t need it; once such people take the three doses they are immunized for life.

Regarding the transmission of the virus, he said there is vertical transmission and horizontal transmission. “For vertical transmission, that is when the mother who is infected can give it to an unborn child. That’s why it’s advisable to go for anti natal care and then have their deliveries in registered centers because there are things we do to prevent those kind of transmission.

“Another way it can be transmitted through vertical transmission, which is blood transfusion. Sometimes you may have a low blood level and you need to be transfused so if you get transfused with unscreened blood and that blood has hepatitis, you get it.

Then we have the horizontal transmission which is through unprotected sexual intercourse with someone who is infected. That’s why we also say people should practice safe sexual behaviors.

“Sharing of sharp objects (like clippers, scissors, razors, needles, etc) it needs to be sterilized or you have your own.

“We have some people that share syringes, like drug users, people inject themselves with some abused medication, and we also have those tattooing their bodies. These are all of the ways one can be infected.”

On his part, the Project Manager of the One Liver One Life campaign, Pharmacist Akpus Adigizi Manuel, said their goal is to reduce the burden of hepatitis starting from the local community in the state, Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.

“We call on all age groups, the children, young adolescent, adults the elderly to live with caution especially, when it comes to dieting, eating lifestyle and some lifestyle choices

“People should reduce excessive alcoholism, reduce smoking and some unsafe sexual practices or other practices that are been practiced in communities that are inimical to their health.