Leading African and international public health experts,
patient representatives, policymakers and physicians will convene in Dakar,
Senegal, to discuss and better understand the burden of hepatitis B and C in
Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.
African countries, NaijaAgroNet
gathered, have some of the highest rates of chronic viral hepatitis in the
world - it is estimated that more than 30 million people in the Africa region
are living with hepatitis C alone.
Awareness of viral hepatitis is low, and access to screening and
treatment is currently limited in most countries.
The African Viral Hepatitis Summit 2016, sponsored by Gilead Sciences would provide a forum to
discuss the latest in viral hepatitis B and C research, including surveillance,
prevention, treatment, service delivery and policy issues.
“The hepatitis B or Cepidemics continue to grow across the
continent, and are becoming a serious public health issue,” said summit
co-chair Danjuma Adda, World Hepatitis Alliance Executive Board Member for the
African Region, stressing this summit is very timely and will benefit all those
working to establish a public health approach to preventing and treating these
diseases.
Also speaking, summit co-chair and Professor at the
University of Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Souleymane Mboup, said “This summit
presents a rare opportunity for a broad range of groupsto share perspectives on
this significant public health problem,” pointing out that sharing research,
policy and programmatic insights from across Africa will be enormously helpful
to those on the ground working to help people living with or at risk for viral
hepatitis.
Viral hepatitis is inflammation of the liver caused by a
virus. There are five different hepatitis viruses - hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.
All of these viruses cause short term, or acute infection. The hepatitis B and
C viruses can cause long-term infection, called chronic hepatitis, which may
lead to life-threatening complications such as cirrhosis (liver scarring),
liver failure and liver cancer.
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