AHO urges public participation to eliminate Hepatitis
Graciano Masauso, President of Africa Health Organisation (AHO) has said that every African should come forward and play his role in complete elimination of Hepatitis from the continet as governments alone cannot fight the menace.
Addressing a ceremony in connection with the ‘World Hepatitis Day’ at the AHO HQ here on Saturday, he said it was very important to spread awareness about Hepatitis prevention in the society and the provision of clean drinking water can reduce the spread of Hepatitis considerably.
Graciano said he would like to pay tribute to all governments and welfare organizations for their efforts to prevent Hepatitis on the continet.
He said AHO had started working on more than 1500 projects in Africa to provide clean drinking water to the people and by the end of this year, clean drinking water will be provided to about eighty million people of Africa South of the Sahara.
Graciano, addressing on the occasion said that AHO was providing free medicine to the ‘registered Hepatitis patients’, adding that the main purpose of observing World Hepatitis Day was to raise awareness regarding the prevention of Hepatitis and provide treatment facilities to Hepatitis patients.
He said that AHO launched the Hepatitis Free Africa campaign and now 16 organizations were working in collaboration for this initiative.
He further said over three lac Hepatitis ‘C’ patients and over 30 thousand Hepatitis ‘B’ patients had been treated for free whereas 24 lac people were screened for free to date.
Graciano said his organization was also striving to eliminate Hepatitis from Africa through the provision of clean drinking water, adding that AHO was the largest provider of clean drinking water in Africa providing safe drinking water to over 220 million people on a daily basis.
There are several different types of hepatitis, most of which are outlined below.
Some types will pass without any serious problems, while others can be long-lasting (chronic) and cause scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), loss of liver function and, in some cases, liver cancer.
Symptoms of hepatitis
Short-term (acute) hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms, so you may not realise you have it.
If symptoms do develop, they can include:
- muscle and joint pain
- a high temperature
- feeling and being sick
- feeling unusually tired all the time
- a general sense of feeling unwell
- loss of appetite
- tummy pain
- dark urine
- pale, grey-coloured poo
- itchy skin
- yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is caused by the hepatitis A virus. It’s usually caught by consuming food and drink contaminated with the poo of an infected person, and is most common in countries where sanitation is poor.
Hepatitis A usually passes within a few months, although it can occasionally be severe and even life threatening.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus, which is spread in the blood of an infected person.
It’s a common infection worldwide and is usually spread from infected pregnant women to their babies, or from child-to-child contact.
In rare cases, it can be spread through unprotected sex and injecting drugs.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus
It’s usually spread through blood-to-blood contact with an infected person.
It’s most commonly spread through sharing needles used to inject drugs.
Poor healthcare practices and unsafe medical injections are the main way it’s spread in poor countries.