Pakistan under the threat of Hepatitis

Dr Muhammad Faheemullah Kamboh

Despite Hepatitis cases multiplying at an alarming speed in Pakistan, government seems unserious.

As World Health Organization has developed a Global health sector strategy to achieve hepatitis elimination by 2030 in collaboration with different countries’ authorities, and among them, some countries like Iceland, Qatar, Australia, Japan, etc are on the track to achieving hepatitis by 2030. some countries are working towards elimination but unfortunately, Pakistan is among the countries in which elimination seems unachievable with its current policy.

lack of education, proper counseling, and lack of screening and vaccination are major problems to Eliminate hepatitis. There is also a lack of effective monitoring and evaluation of provincial hepatitis programs, where sometimes medicines and necessary materials to conduct PCR tests are insufficient in resulting patients having to suffer a lot. Who is to blame for the failure of Pakistan to eliminate Hepatitis? Government of Pakistan, Health care workers? or people themselves are accountable for being unsuccessful in achieving the target to combat hepatitis?

The disease of hepatitis is called a silent killer because many patients remain undiagnosed without having any symptoms Upto many years before developing complications and dying. Though there are five types of Hepatitis, from A to E. But Hepatitis C is the leading cause of death all over the world.In Pakistan, almost 12 million people are suffering from hepatitis B or C. Each year brings about 150 000 new cases.

Identify the following common risk factors for the transmission of hepatitis B and C. Unnecessary therapeutic injection use, and unnecessary hospital stay that is most commonly observed in today’s era, syringe reuse, improper sanitization of medical devices, blood transfusion, sharing of razor and shaving machine with others, contaminated blood and body fluids while coming in contact with someone’s wound, Getting a tattoo or piercing, Trips to the salon or barbershop, Having sex with someone who has hepatitis B is a major cause of new infections.

To prevent Hepatitis, Vaccination of Hepatitis B, from newborn children to Adults, mass screening, washing dishes, fruits, and vegetables properly, eating well-cooked food, avoiding unnecessary blood tests, hospital administration, and injections, and using medicines as per doctor’s advice are the effective ways to prevent Hepatitis.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/979884/pakistan-under-the-threat-of-hepatitis/