During the second Annual General Meeting of the Sierra Leone Medical Student’s Association (SLeMSA) the guest lecturer, Dr. (Haja) Isata Wurie, who is head of the Department of Chemical Pathology disclosed that hepatitis is fifty to one hundred times more dangerous than HIV/AIDS.
She made this disclosure while she was speaking in an interview with Awoko newspaper on the dangers of the disease, at the Bank of Sierra Leone’s Complex in Freetown.
Speaking on the theme: “Prevent Hepatitis; Act Now”, the doctor said that the students were trying as best as possible to present the picture of hepatitis B and its relation to infection in health care workers.
“It’s like trying to emphasize the importance of the knowledge behind the risk involve because of their profession and also to understand the impact it has on the population as a whole … also on them to ensure that infection prevention control measures are put in place, and to advocate for support for the pre exposure and post exposure.”
She said, though one cannot outweigh one disease above the other, hepatitis, is dangerous as it points to potentially damaging the liver. The good news about the disease according to her is that there is a vaccine available for it.
Questioned about making the vaccine available to the public, Dr. Wurie said “that is a huge undertaking because for you to go to the vaccine the country should have first established a screening program.” She said that she was happy about the symposium because of the inclusion of other organizations that were interested in the disease. “This is the first step to raise awareness”, she stressed.
Stating suggested protocols to be developed in addressing the disease, the doctor explained that the first thing is to look into getting the guidelines and a policy on population health, which is inclusive of hepatitis B.
With regards the prevalence of hepatitis, “there is no current prevalence,” she explained. She added that “the only prevalence we have is sub-population prevalence like the anti natal population, blood donors … those are ad hoc.”
Dr. Wurie went on to say that they need concerted efforts to collate all the data that are available in the country and come up with a complete prevalence. That data according to her will be the baseline from which they will start to work to see whether intervention will have any impact as well as the impact the vaccine will have.
“With the vaccine, protection prevention mechanism, and awareness, understanding what are the implications being health workers and also for the public at large, it is preventable”, she assured.
By Edna Smalle
Tuesday October 04, 2016
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