Posted on: Wed 05-08-2020

The Osun State Chairman of the Young Medical Laboratory Scientists Forum, Mr Ayodeji Faremi, has urged the Federal Government to implement the National Strategic policy on hepatitis.

Faremi, at an event organised to commemorate World Hepatitis Day identified low awareness about hepatitis infection and non commitments to its elimination compared with Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, as some of the factors militating against efforts to rid the country of the disease.

“Non availability of effective treatment plans and therapeutic tools seems to give a biased impression towards its elimination. The political will or commitment to fund viral hepatitis elimination is weak in the country because it is significantly underfunded compared to the big three (Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS) that enjoys a commeasurable grants from multi nationals agencies and international funders. Poor testing and uptake of treatment is another critical issue,” he said.

Faremi, however, called for the implementation of the national strategic policy on hepatitis elimination, adding that stakeholders and health care givers must be sensitised on the document.

He also advocated strong advocacy networks and stakeholders’ engagement to ensure evenly spread information relating to the disease and its awareness.

“Strong financial support and investment is needed to lay the ground work for elimination by investing in viral hepatitis programmes. A scale up for mass testing regime must be put in place for all house hold in the country. To ensure a hepatitis free future, we must ensure that focus on hepatitis services are not shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Faremi said.

Source: Punch

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