Mr Ahmed Yahaya, Nasarawa State Commissioner for Health, on Wednesday said that the state government plans to train 77 health workers in the management of viral hepatitis.
Yahaya stated this at a press briefing in Lafia to mark the 2020 World Hepatitis Day in the state.
According to the commissioner, the training was conceived by the state’s Viral Hepatitis Technical Working Group (VHTWG), to build the capacity of 77 health workers across ten health facilities in the state on the management of the disease.
The World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The Nasarawa Viral Hepatitis Technical Working Group set up by the state government in February is charged with the responsibility of planning, driving, implementing and monitoring the hepatitis elimination progress.
Yahaya said that in line with global target of eliminating all forms of hepatitis by 2030, the state government had so far in 2020 approved certain stringent steps to eradicate the disease in the state, one of which was the approval for training of the 77 health workers.
He said the training would equip the health workers with the capacity to manage all forms of hepatitis efficiently thereby reducing the mortality rate from the disease in the state.
The commissioner said that other measures taken by the government towards eradicating the disease include approval of fund for the procurement of 5,000 anti hepatitis C rapid testing kits to facilitate screening for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients enrolled to care, and distribution of screening registers and patient chart for data capturing.
“The TWG will also engage multiple pharmaceutical companies to explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership.
“They will also roll out phase one screening across two secondary health facilities and subsequently expand to additional three facilities.
“So far, over 1,000 HIV patients have been screened with 174 testing positive to hepatitis and awaiting treatment.
No fewer than 2,000 persons are estimated to be Hepatitis B positive in the next three months in the state.
This calls for immediate action,” he said. On the commemoration of 2020 World Hepatitis Day, Yahaya said series of events have been outlined which included screening of first 1,000 patients, commencement of phase two of targeted screening, media tours and radio jingles to increase awareness.
“These activities commenced from July 27 up to this press briefing. We intend to flag off the screening of the first 1,000 patients at Shabu General Clinic at date to be announced soon,” Yahaya added.
Gfhnews reports that the 2020 theme is “Hepatitis-free future”.
