KARACHI: Highlighting the gravity of the situation Pakistan faces with respect to hepatitis, experts at a webinar held recently at Dr Ziauddin Hospital (ZH) underscored the need for vaccination, timely diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
The event was held to mark World Hepatitis Day, which has the theme ‘Hepatitis Can’t Wait’ this year.
The event began with a global situation analysis of chronic hepatitis B and C which, according to the speakers, currently affect 354 million people in the world. “Hepatitis B and hepatitis C related conditions lead to approximately over 1.1 million deaths each year — which could be prevented by vaccination of all infants against hepatitis B and by timely testing and treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections,” said Dr Anila Kazmi, group head for quality assurance at ZH.
She also referred to the WHO estimates which showed these infections claimed lives of 1.1 million people in 2019.
‘Pakistan is facing an epidemic of hepatitis C, affecting around 14m people’
On chronic hepatitis C and its management, Dr Sohail Hussain, an assistant professor and consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the hospital, said Pakistan was facing an epidemic of hepatitis C, affecting around 14 million people in the country. Most of the people are unaware of their health status because the disease was asymptomatic in its initial course.
“According to the Pakistan Medical and Research Council, the prevalence of hepatitis C virus is 6.7pc in Punjab, 5pc in Sindh, 1.5pc in Balochistan and 1.1pc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said, emphasising that the focus should be on devising effective preventive strategies as Pakistan is a middle-income country with limited resources.
Dr Qamarul Arfin, an assistant professor and consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the hospital, talked about chronic hepatitis B and its complications. The disease, a viral infection, attacked the liver and could cause both acute and chronic diseases.
“In 2021, the WHO estimated that 12pc to 25pc of people with chronic hepatitis B infection will require treatment, depending on their eligibility criteria. The virus is commonly transmitted from mother to child during birth and delivery, blood transfusion and other body fluids with an infected partner, unsafe injections and exposure to sharp instruments,” he said.
Citing WHO estimates, he said 296 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B infection in 2019, with 1.5m new infections each year. Hepatitis B resulted in estimated 82,000 deaths mostly from primary liver cancer.
Presenting his views as a panelist, Prof Nasir Laique, also practising at ZH, said the hospital had a robust screening hepatitis B & C system with data monitoring and effective treatment and management of all pertinent cases.
“We are already in the process of supporting the WHO goal, i.e. achieve elimination by 2030 by encouraging people to access hepatitis prevention, testing and treatment service,” he said.
Sharing the background and history of Hepatitis Day, Dr Inayat Ali Khan, director of services at ZH, stressed the need to have mandatory hepatitis vaccination programmes in the country just like the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2021