World Hepatitis Day: Understanding the risks, myths and safety measures

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00:00Hello and welcome to Guardian Talk on Guardian TV. My name

00:03is Fadima Rachel. As the world marks the World Apatitis Day,

00:07we shine the spotlight on a public health concern,

00:10Apatitis. According to the World Health Organization, WHO,

00:14over 350 million of the world population are living with

00:17Apatitis which they are not even aware of. In Nigeria alone,

00:21Apatitis B is prevalent and is often undetected until it's

00:25too late to do anything. Today, joining us live at a studio,

00:29is Dr. Olaide Balogun, a public health consultant, who will be

00:34shedding more light on what Apatitis is, how it is spread,

00:37and ways to prevent it. Stay tuned.

00:48My name is Balogun Olaide. I'm a certified public health

00:51professional. Apatitis is simply an inflammation of the liver

00:56disease, which is usually caused by viral infections. And we have

01:00other causes like alcohol abuse and medication abuse. We have

01:04Apatitis A, B, C, D, and E. That's simple. Apatitis A, B, C, D, and E.

01:10Apatitis A and E, they are just the mild form. B, C, they are the chronic ones.

01:14chronic form of Apatitis A, and D also is not as chronic as B and C.

01:28The most common type of Apatitis A, actually we have two. There's Apatitis B and Apatitis C,

01:37and they could be transmitted through blood to blood contact. That's when, through like a mother to

01:44child during childbirth. And this could be transmitted also through sexual, unprotected sexual intercourse.

01:51The reason why Apatitis is often referred to as a silent killer is because Apatitis most

02:07times do not show symptoms. Sometimes it might not get to the serious face, to the chronic face.

02:16So that's why, and most times when you get to the serious face, that's why you hear of liver damage,

02:21um, liver scarring, liver cirrhosis, and all that, which could lead to death. Apatitis is often referred

02:28to as a silent killer because sometimes it could be, it could be asymptomatic. That is, it sounds like you

02:36won't see the symptoms. And sometimes the symptoms could be day to day, your normal day to day. Maybe,

02:42for example, fatigue is part of the symptoms. So you could be tired and you won't even know that

02:46you need to go for Apatitis screening. So, but the symptoms that we should look at. So we have

02:52general symptoms and we have the specific symptoms. I would start with the general symptoms. We have

02:57fatigue, as I said earlier. We have nausea, when you feel like you want to throw up. We have, um,

03:02we have joint pain. And, um, for the specific symptoms, we have, um, when you notice that there's a

03:08yellowish color on your skin, which is John D's yellowish color or in your eyes. So John D's. And when you

03:15also notice that you have like a pale, um, a pale feces, so that's also part of, um, the symptoms.

03:30Nigerians, um, should, the first thing an individual should do, um, is to go to your local, um, local

03:38sector, which is like your primary care center and inquire for more information there. There are a lot of,

03:44like services being provided at the primary level.

03:53Yes, of course, there is a vaccine available for Apatitis. First of all, I'll start with, um,

03:59the reason why people taking the vaccines, reason why they are still low. And that's because

04:04there was still lack of awareness. Like people, like they are not, we are not, um, educating people,

04:10like about, we need to educate people more about this, um, illness. We need to educate people more,

04:16just like we have campaigns, um, for HIV. And that is more popular. That is more common. We need to

04:22also make this common. We need to be, we need to create more awareness regarding this illness. And,

04:28um, I feel like everyone should prioritize, prioritize, um, vaccination, but we have like more, um,

04:35vulnerable groups, which, which are infants, pregnant women. For example, infants, um,

04:40we already have like, um, hepatitis, um, B and hepatitis B is already part of the routine immunization

04:47for the infants at, um, best six weeks and 10 weeks. And also during, um, antenatal women, um,

04:54the pregnant women, I think they always screened for, um, um, during their, um, routine checkups,

05:01they also always screened for hepatitis B infection.

05:12If an individual is tested positive, um, the first thing that would be given to the person is

05:19anti-viral medication, go to your primary care centers, they provide these services there.

05:30Yeah, depending on the situation and the individual,

05:35NHS, they do provide, um, they do provide some services.

05:40I would say people think, um, people think that hepatitis is a death sentence,

05:52which is like, that's like, like HIV. No, they're both not, it's not,

05:55a hepatitis is not a death sentence. If you're able to, um, get to find out,

06:01if you're able to find out on time, there are like medications to manage the illness,

06:07it's not a death sentence. And that's the second thing that, okay, um, people with hepatitis

06:12are the ones, um, at this particular group, like sex workers. That's not true.

06:16Anyone could get hepatitis. It's not just, oh, because you are promiscuous or something,

06:21that's why you're getting hepatitis. No, that's not true.

06:29I would say people should go for screening. I mentioned earlier something about stigma.

06:34So if everybody decides to, if everyone decides to go for screening, it could reduce that stigma,

06:43because everybody's going, it's not just a sex worker that is going for screening.

06:47Everyone is going for screening. So during this, um, hepatitis, everyone should please go for screening

06:51and please create more awareness, educate people about hepatitis, talk to people.

06:56Hepatitis may be referred to as the silent killer, but our responses don't have to be.

07:00From getting tested to raising awareness, you'll have a role to play. Thanks once again to Dr. Olaide

07:06for sharing those insights with us. I'm Fadima Rachel, till I come your way next time, stay safe.

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