PESHAWAR, Aug 19: The findings of the first-ever official study on the prevalence of hepatitis are likely to be made public by the end of the month, according to an official.
Talking to Dawn, Dr Sharif Ahmed Khan, manager of the Prime Minister’s Programme for Control and Prevention of Hepatitis, said the findings of the countrywide study launched three months ago by the Pakistan Medical and Research Council would be used as baseline for future interventions regarding prevention of the ailment.
He said about 250 hospital-based studies had been conducted in the country’s premier health institutions which suggested that the prevalence of hepatitis B was 3.4 per cent and that of hepatitis C was about 6 per cent. But, he said, the countrywide study was conducted to get proper statistics about the disease in different areas of the country and initiate remedial measures accordingly.
Under the study for which the ministry of health had approved a PC-1, the PMRC had collected 50,000 blood samples from people in various areas.
“It will be a representative study for the entire country. We will be able to have a clear picture about the disease’s prevalence,” the official said. Available population data had been used during the study, he added.
He said in case of patients having both hepatitis B and C, priority would be given to stop hepatitis B because it was more infective and deadlier than hepatitis C.
He said under the five-year (2005-10) programme, a holistic approach had been adopted to utilise Rs2.59 billion to achieve the objective. The ‘C’ type had no vaccine and the other types of the disease were vaccine-preventable, he added.
The official said the programme’s focus was on strengthening investigation of and creating awareness among people about causative agents of the disease.
“Hospital waste management, installation of incinerators and infection control are the main areas being given priority,” he said. About the chronically-ill patients, he said the government was providing free treatment to them, but the main area was prevention.
He said 22 sentinel centres for investigation and treatment of hepatitis had been established in the NWFP and Fata.