A Lagos based non-government organisation, Community Health and Advocacy Initiative (CHAIN) has made a passionate appeal to Nigerian governments at federal and state levels to make provisions for free testing and vaccination for the populace against the different forms of Hepatitis which are presently and quietly decimating the population of Nigeria.
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mrs Juliana Iregbu-Ihejirika, the organization also advocated for increased commitment by the Nigerian government in pursuing the sustainable development goals in Nigeria as it relates to health by at least honouring the 2001 Abuja Declaration Agreement of allocating at least 15% of the country’s annual budget to health.
“Since the declaration, Nigeria has not attained the pledged funding benchmark as the Federal Government had never voted more than six percent of its annual budget to the health sector.The highest percentage since the declaration was in 2012 :when 5.95% of the budget was allotted to health” the statement added.
The statement further read: “In the 2018 budget proposal presented by President Muhammadu Buhari, he allocated N340.44billion, representing 3.9% of the8.6trillion expenditure plan to the health sector. The allocation is less than the 4.6% and 4.23% made to the health sector by the administration in the 2017 and 2016 budgets”.
In the following account, Iregbu-Ihejirika shares her experience about the deadly nature of the disease:
“About two people recently passed away in a Lagos based organisation from complications from the disease and about five other people from the same organisation are critically ill with related symptoms. The organization decided to carry out hepatitis tests for all staff members and to their astonishment, over 20% of the staff tested positive to the deadly disease. These are just a few of the over 20million people infected by the disease, out of which 5million die annually”.
Hepatitis is a disease that attacks the liver. There are five types of hepatitis: hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Understanding how the different types of hepatitis spread is the first key to prevention.
Depending on the type, two main ways that hepatitis passes from person to person are contact with infected blood or other body fluids, and contact with infected feces. Hepatitis A and E are excreted through the feces of an infected person. You can become infected with hepatitis A or E if you ingest contaminated food or water.
Hepatitis types B, C, and D are spread primarily through contact with infected blood. Sexual transmission is a less common but still important route of exposure, especially for hepatitis B.
Vaccines are available to protect you against hepatitis A and B so get yourself and your family members’ Hepatitis A and B Immunization done.
Regular hand washing or the frequent use of hand sanitizers can also protect us from hepatitis A and E which spreads through contaminated water and food.
“With the present attitude of the Nigerian government towards financing health programmes in Nigeria, achieving the sustainable development goal of ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases by 2030 in Nigeria would never be attainable”, the statement also affirmed.
CHAIN is a non-government, not-for-profit organization based in Lagos and working to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes in communities across Nigeria through research, capacity building, public enlightenment, strategic health interventions and advocacy.
