Banjul, The Gambia, 24th August 2016 - The Gambia joined the rest of the international community to commemorate World Hepatitis Day in a form of a press briefing organized by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoH&SW) in collabo-ration with World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). The objective of this gathering was to sensitize journalists on hepatitis to enable them disseminate the necessary information to a wider audience of the general public. The event was held on 28th June, 2016 at the Central Medical Stores conference hall in Kotu.

The Deputy Manager, National Aids Control Programme (NACP) who delivered the first presentation after welcoming everyone on board, gave an overview of the Hepatitis situation. He highlighted that WHO is urging countries to take rapid action to improve knowledge about the disease and to increase access to testing and treatment services to reduce needless deaths from preventable and treatable infection.

He hailed the gathering as very timely and important in that with better information and knowleadge about hepatitis, people can prevent themselves and their families from get-ting infected and passing the infection to others. This he emphasized would be entrusted to the journalists around the table to use their pens and voices to reach the corners of The Gambia.

Quoting from the Regional Director’s statement on the occasion Dr. Patrick Abok, representing the WHO Representative Dr. Charles Sagoe-Moses, lamented on the theme: “Know hepatitis. Act now”, which calls on countries and people to become informed about the risks of hepatitis infection, get tested and advocate for increased access to treatment and care.

He noted that viral hepatitis, an infection of the liver caused by five distinct hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, D, and E), is a highly widespread public health problem in the African Region, similar to other major communicable diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

He urged all Member States in the African Region to use the World Hepatitis Day campaign as a vital opportunity to step up national efforts on hepatitis and to spur action to implement the strategy on viral hepatitis. He appeal to the general public to seek information about viral hepati-tis and services for prevention and treatment from the nearest health facility.

He re-assured partners of WHO’s continued support to Member States to implement the hepatitis strategy to tackle this growing public health problem in the Region.

While addressing the press, the MRC Unit Director, Professor Umberto d Allessandro said hepatitis was very common in Gambian children before 1980s but added that since they started introducing the immunization at the clinic levels to date, only those who were not fortunate to receive the vaccine are the most at risk. He there-fore encouraged people to go for screening to know their status.

Representing the Hon. Minister, Omar Sey, the deputy permanent secretary, Madam Ramatoulie Sarr In her launching statement thanked WHO and partners for all their support in the fight against the viral hepatitis pandemic, a public health challenge.

She noted that the first-ever Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis included a target to treat 8 million people for hepatitis B or C by 2020 and the Gambia in collaboration with MRC and WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve mass infant vaccination against hepatitis B infection since 1990. 

Madame Ramatoulie called for concerted efforts of both partners and the general public noting that hepatitis takes a heavy toll on lives, communities and health systems.

Other community activities with screening and radio programmes are scheduled for later dates. 

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For more details, please contact:

Mr. Momodou Gassama, Health Promotion Officer,  gassamam [at] gm.afro.who.int—(+220)- 4462286

Mr. George. Williams, Health Information Assistant,  williamsg [at] gm.afro.who.int—(+220) 4462284