Abuja, The World Health Group (WHO) has collaborated with the Government of Nigeria and hepatitis stakeholders to raise consciousness and promote early prognosis and cure for World Hepatitis Day 2025. The realm tournament, seen yearly on 28 July, raises consciousness about viral hepatitis- an inflammation of the liver that can doubtless perhaps lead to persistent liver disease and liver cancer.
Hepatitis contains 5 kinds: A, B, C, D, and E. In the WHO African Self-discipline, over 70 million of us suffer from persistent hepatitis B or C, however fewer than 10% are identified or treated. Nigeria, with 325,000 recent infections in 2022, ranks third globally in hepatitis incidence.
Chronic hepatitis B and C can lead to liver peril and cancer, although they are preventable, treatable, and, within the case of hepatitis C, curable.
This 300 and sixty five days’s theme, ‘Hepatitis: Let’s Atomize It Down,’ calls for motion to eradicate financial, social, and systemic boundaries, including stigma, that prevent hepatitis elimination and liver cancer prevention.
For 2025 World Hepatitis Day, WHO joined the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and its partners to designate the event with a ministerial press briefing on the Federal Secretariat, and launched a three-day hepatitis B screening, on the discontinuance vaccinations might doubtless perhaps hold to you test unfavorable, and linkage to cure programme might doubtless perhaps hold to you test obvious on the Nationwide Assembly Complicated in Abuja.
The tournament on the Nationwide Assembly in Abuja brought together well being officers, legislators, and the final public to tackle the stammer of hepatitis.
Addressing journalists on the press briefing, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Mohammed Pate, represented by Dr Godwin Ntadom, Director Public Health Department, FMOH, reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to combating hepatitis.
He well-known that the burden and payment of hepatitis cure within the nation is silent very high and, as such, has an colossal economic impression on the nation and known as for collective motion in removing the disease.
Dr Ntadom acknowledged, “hepatitis prices Nigeria between ₦13.3 trillion and ₦17.9 trillion yearly in notify and indirect prices.
He moreover announced, ‘Mission 365,’ a nationwide campaign aimed at removing Hepatitis C and halting Hepatitis B transmission by 2030.
“The project will support the ongoing efforts to put off mom-to-little one transmission of HIV, hepatitis, and STIs, alongside expanding native pharmaceutical manufacturing via funding, the establishment of the Viral Elimination Fund, tax incentives, regulatory reforms, and legislative support.
Nigeria have to no longer sustain the third-top hepatitis burden globally. We hold the science, we now hold got the approach, and we can act together, boldly and urgently, toward a hepatitis-free Nigeria, he acknowledged.
WHO’s Performing Consultant in Nigeria, Dr Alex Gasasira, represented by Dr Mya Ngon, cluster lead for Fashioned Health Protection (UHC) Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) praised Nigeria’s triple elimination initiative for HIV, hepatitis, and STIs, and emphasised the importance of cutting again cure prices, boosting native manufacturing, and expanding screening to make healthcare equity.
WHO urges Nigeria and other worldwide locations to:
• Make certain hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of beginning;
• Mix hepatitis checking out and cure into predominant healthcare companies;
• Deal with stigma and misinformation;
• Earn sustainable home funding for hepatitis applications; and
• Provide protection to the rights of folk residing with hepatitis, especially in healthcare and employment.
She reiterated WHO’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s efforts to beef up its well being systems and amplify get entry to to more cost effective diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments.
A beneficiary of the screening, Fash Yommie, 53, from Abuja, shared that he took the test to know his space.
“I took the test to know my space, and I am relieved to hold examined unfavorable. I now understand the importance of hepatitis prevention. I’ll start taking precautionary measures, comparable to heading off sharing needles and making sure valid hygiene with meals and water, to protect myself and my beloved ones from an infection. I abet all americans to get examined and vaccinated, as early detection is important to stopping this disease.
“Early detection and vaccination are crucial in preventing the spread of hepatitis. Hepatitis B is transmitted through contact with infected blood or fluids, hepatitis C via blood-to-blood contact like sharing needles, and hepatitis A and E through contaminated food or water.
Nigeria has enhanced hepatitis B prevention by adding the vaccine to the national schedule, supported by WHO, Gavi, UNICEF, and partners, to vaccinate all newborns and children and reduce early transmission.
This year’s activities reflect the broader goal of integrating hepatitis services into Nigeria’s primary healthcare system, making screening and treatment more accessible to vulnerable populations.
The National Assembly event is part of WHO’s ongoing collaboration with Nigeria to achieve universal health coverage and align with the 2030 Global Health Agenda. Through national and local partnerships, WHO supports Nigeria in reducing the hepatitis burden and improving public health outcomes. The three-day screening serves as a reminder that hepatitis is preventable, and everyone has a role in raising awareness and preventing its spread.
