45% Of Populace In North Gonja HBV, HCV Positive

An estimated forty-five percent [45%] of the population of the newly created North Gonja District of the Northern Region of Ghana has been infected with two types of the deadly liver disease, Hepatitis B Virus [HBV] and Hepatitis C Virus [HCV].

According to a health official of the Daboya Polyclinic in the overseas district who pleaded anonymity in an interview with this blogger, a recent screening conducted revealed that the two types of the liver disease were very rampant in the area particularly among young people.

Speaking to this reporter, residents also confirmed that a lot of their young men and women were dying of the epidemics and appealed to the government to immediately intervene in order to save lives.

There are five main types of hepatitis viruses and they include types A, B, C, D, and E. The most common types are the A, B, and C. Of the three, only the B type has a vaccine. 

HBV is a blood-borne viral disease caused by a virus and is one of the most common infectious diseases in the world. It can be acute or chronic. Most healthy adults (90%) who are infected recover and develop protective antibodies against future HBV infections. A small number (5-10%) are unable to get rid of the virus and develop chronic infections. Unfortunately, this is not true for infants and young children – 90% of infants and up to 50% of young children infected with HBV develop chronic infections. Therefore, vaccination is essential to protect infants and children. The virus is passed from an infected person to another through blood and body fluids like semen. Only about 30 percent of people with HBV have any symptoms. Staggering statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that 600,000 people die each year worldwide, due to acute or chronic HBV.

HCV is also a liver disease caused by a virus. HCV infection sometimes results in an acute symptomatic illness. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, chronic condition that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. Unlike HBV which is transmitted sexually and through other means, HCV is only transmitted through contact with the blood of an infected person. According to the WHO, about 130 – 170 million people are chronically infected with HCV, and more than 350,000 people die from HCV-related liver diseases each year. HCV infection is curable using increasingly effective antivirals. Despite ongoing research, there is currently no vaccine to prevent HCV infection. It is estimated that 3 – 4 million people are infected with HCV each year globally.

Health NGO Theobald Hepatitis B Foundation also claims millions of Ghanaians [3/4] across the country are living with HBV. While one out of five Ghanaians is infected by HBV, several calls had been made to the Ghana Aids Commission in recent times to work towards integrating HBV in HIV/AIDS campaign. This was because, the disease was far higher than the prevalence of HIV, but awareness was inexplicably very low and the majority of those infected were unaware.

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Furthermore, it is believed that one in 12 Ghanaians is living with a chronic (life-long) HBV, and one in four of those living with chronic HBV will die from liver cancer or liver failure. The good news however is that the effects could be avoided or prevented with appropriate education, monitoring and treatment.

The Chief of Daboya Wasipewura Kabasaya Anyame II in an interview with The Daily Dispatch, appealed to the government to endeavour to equip the Polyclinic in the area with more staff and infrastructural facilities to enable personnel actually provide the services that were expected of a standard polyclinic. 

According to the Chief and people of Daboya, there were a lot of maternal and infant deaths in the hinterlands most of which were inaccessible due to poor road networks that somehow hampered travelling by cars and motorbikes. This, health officials corroborated when this reporter checked. 

Wasipewura II also expressed concern over the lack of accommodation facilities for staff of the newly created district and called on the government to make that its top priority since workers posted to the area did not have a place to lay their heads.   

Meanwhile, the North Gonja District with a population of over 18,000 has no single tarred road network, no ambulance, laboratory, motorbikes and offices for its health centre as well as accommodation for staff.