The coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, says there are 91 million people living with chronic hepatitis in Africa.
He said there are 82 million people living with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) while nine million people live with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection.
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Speaking through his representative, Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Kachollom Daju,at the African Hepatitis Summit in Abuja, Minister Pare said the staggering figures are further exacerbated by the fact that only 0.1% of 2% diagnosed with CHB and 0% of 5% diagnosed with CHC received treatment in the year 2020.
The minister said despite a 90% risk of children acquiring CHB from mother-to-child transmission, only 14 out of 47 African countries have introduced routine HepB-BD vaccination, and merely 17% of newborns in Africa have received a timely HepB-BD vaccination despite it being recognized as a cost-effective tool to prevent new infections.
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