Tough fight against hepatitis

The federal government has once again expressed its commitment to working for the control of viral hepatitis C (HCV) diseases across the country. This time measures will be taken under the Prime Minister’s Programme for Elimination of Hepatitis C in Pakistan, which, according to key personalities, will cost the federal and provincial governments a collective amount to the tune of Rs68.25 billion in a period of three years.

Though more details of the proposed measures to be taken under the programme, launched in Islamabad recently, are yet to be revealed, it has officially been stated that the programme would be executed with the assistance of over three dozens of non-governmental organisations. Under the plan, everyone over the age of 12 will be screened, while free treatment will be provided to those diagnosed with hepatitis.

Here one can desire that the PM’s programme will also take stock from similar initiatives taken in the past and try to overcome lacunas and emulate something from the success stories, if any, as Pakistan’s position in terms of hepatitis C prevalence has been very depressive.

Spread of hepatitis of different strains, including B and C, has been a source of concern for years almost in every province of the country. According to the national hepatitis prevalence survey of 2008, there were 4.9% of the people suffering from hepatitis C in the country.

In the absence of any openly available indigenous report, the last WHO released global report revealed that Pakistan, with 8.8 million infections, was on the top of five countries collectively housing about 40 per cent of the total world hepatitis patients.   

Medicine researchers have been highlighting the challenges they encountered hindering elimination of HCV from the country for long. Normally, they call for increasing awareness about the causes and transmission of the disease, sharing of investigations-related costs by government, affordable availability of drug treatment, adequate number of experienced healthcare professionals, ensuring robust epidemiological data, education of the public on the subject disease, focusing largely on the prevention side of the infection, and massive screening against the viral disease.

The country had established Prime Minister’s initiative on hepatitis control in the first decade of this century and a national health research body that worked on hepatitis diseases, besides introducing various hepatitis specific provincial governments’ programmes, which consumed billions of rupees from the provincial exchequers also, but giving no significant results.

It’s high time for the government to ensure befitting integration among the hepatitis controllers and coordinators and the field-health establishments on the subject of execution of policies and measures that should mostly encompass the preventive steps. It is also imperative to mount a strict surveillance system as well as providing treatment facilities to the patients.

The country needs an impressive and sincere exercise to reverse its statistics and stigma related to hepatitis C disease –the silent killer, after all.

Social Track editorial 

With an uninterrupted 23-year career in daily journalism (1991-2013), the author/editor of this blog currently serves as Editor of Social Track, a weekly newspaper focused on social sectors, based in Karachi. Holding a master's degree in Mass Communications from the University of Karachi (1990), his professional experience includes roles as senior reporter at Daily Dawn, Karachi (May 2001-August 2013) and Chief Reporter at The News International, Karachi (April 1991-May 2001). He has a strong background in development journalism, he has an extensive portfolio of news stories, analytical reports and features covering a wide range of sectors. He has had the privilege of covering numerous high-profile figures, including Pakistani presidents, prime ministers, army chiefs, foreign dignitaries, and VVIPs and attending conferences and workshops abroad. He began his journalism career in the early 1980s. Throughout his career, he has received several national awards from government and private organisations. He has contributed to various radio and TV/channel broadcasts and has also served as a trainer at workshops in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, focused on training journalists.

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