Prioritize the fight against hepatitis – Okyeame Kwame

Health News Saturday, July 20, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-07-20

Okyeame Kwame, an Hiplife artist, urged the government to prioritize the fight against hepatitis in order to eliminate the disease of Ghana by 2030.

Okyeame Kwame, who is at the forefront of the campaign against hepatitis B since 2008, said it was unfortunate that there was little or no funding for the disease although it is 10 times more infectious than HIV.

"I think that because we rely on donor agencies for our development, we usually expect donors to tell us which of our diseases we need to fight. Much of the money that comes to Ghana for health goes to TB, HIV / AIDS and Malaria.

"And because hepatitis is not a widespread disease in terms of" donor agencies ", even though it is 10 times more infectious than HIV, our country does not pay money for hepatitis awareness. because we are waiting for donor agencies.

"I hope the Department of Health will have a budget for the World Hepatitis Day celebrations. I hope that the ministry will issue a statement that day and will bring together people: NGOs, researchers and other stakeholders, to develop a plan that shows how we will achieve the elimination of hepatitis by 2030, "he added. I said.

Okyeame Kwame made suggestions, including vaccinating children at birth against hepatitis and adding hepatitis drugs and vaccines to the national health insurance scheme.

"The simplest way of transmission is mother to child. We must find a way to add the vaccine to the seven deadly diseases so that, from birth, the child will be vaccinated and will never contract the disease. I think if we do that, by 2030, hepatitis will be a thing of the past.

"Another thing we should do is find a way to do free screening and vaccination at home, from rural areas. We also need to work with drug companies that sell powerful drugs because import duties are high. If we reduce tariffs, we can reduce prices, "he said.

Every year on July 28, World Hepatitis Day is celebrated. This year's theme is "Find Missing Millions".

According to worldhepatitisday.org statistics, 1.34 million people die each year from hepatitis, while 300 million people around the world are living with the disease without knowing it.

Since 2008, when he became aware of the dangerousness of the disease and the cost of the tests, Okyeame Kwame organized a free screening and vaccination campaign with the support of the MDS laboratories every World Hepatitis Day. Lancet and the Ministry of Health. other.

This year, as the celebration falls on Sunday, Okyeame Kwame will hold the screening on Friday, July 26th at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly starting at 9am.