The federal government has planned to ensure free access to screening and treatment facilities for Hepatitis C for all citizens, announced Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day.
Shehbaz also announced a countrywide campaign focusing eradication of life-threatening virus HCV. In a message, he called for collective efforts to raise awareness and combat the illness as Pakistan has 10 million infected cases of HCV out of the global 60 million. The prime minister warned of a potential liver cancer epidemic if preventive measures against the viral disease are not taken.
As Punjab Chief Minister, he remembered, he had establishment the Pakistan Kidney & Liver Transplant Institute and modern Hepatitis Filter Clinics in all 36 districts of the province.
Meanwhile, World Hepatitis Day is being observed today with the theme “It’s time to act.” Some reports claim Pakistan contains nearly 15 million hepatitis patients of which one million are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
WHO’s latest report mentioned hepatitis is the eighth highest cause of mortality while Pakistan bears the second largest burden of hepatitis C globally, with a yearly prevalence of 4.8 percent.
The report indicates Pakistan had the highest number of viral hepatitis C infections in the world and accounts for 44 percent of all new hepatitis C infections attributed to unsafe medical injections. According to the data of 187 countries, the estimated number of deaths from viral hepatitis increased from 1.1 million in 2019 to 1.3 million in 2022. Of these, 83 percent were caused by hepatitis B and 17 percent by hepatitis C. If hepatitis B and hepatitis C cases are combined, then Pakistan ranks fifth in the world trailing behind China, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria, with around 12.6 million cases reported in 2022.
The WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report 2024 reveals that 44 percent of new infections are the result of unsafe injections. It said that 10 countries bear nearly two-thirds of the global burden of hepatitis B and C, with Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, and Russia among the top ten. For hepatitis C, six countries – China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, and the US – share 50 percent of the global burden.
Health experts say most of the patients in Pakistan are either diagnosed incidentally or get symptomatic when their illness advances.
The WHO report states that 254 million people live with hepatitis B and 50 million with hepatitis C across the world. Half the burden of hepatitis B and C infections was diagnosed in the 30–54 age group, 12 percent among children under 18.
This disease is called a ‘silent killer’ as most patients remain asymptomatic and hence remain unaware of their illness. Chronic hepatitis goes hidden, leading to a rise in liver cancers and transplants. The disease is transmitted to newborns via vertical transmission. In developing countries like Pakistan, the increased transmission of hepatitis is caused by ignoring sterilization techniques, unskilled and illegal healthcare practices, sharing of personal items such as toothbrushes and razors, unprotected sex, and unscreened transfusions of blood.
The burden of hepatitis-related illness is a considerable challenge for Pakistan where the healthcare system only receives 0.75 percent of the country’s gross domestic production. Hepatitis B can be prevented with vaccines, while hepatitis C can be treated with new antivirals in 95 percent of cases. For the eradication of viral hepatitis till 2030, the WHO planned the Global Health Sector Strategy.
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Hyder Abbasi was reported saying, Hepatitis A and E symptoms are visible like jaundice, vomiting, body aches, and fever. “It settles in 4-6 weeks with supportive medicines. In rare cases it gets complicated and patients have remained in ICU. Hepatitis A and E are spread by polluted water. Hepatitis B and C are spread by blood and related products. (By Rana Kashif)
