By Kei Emmanuel Duku
South Sudan’s fight against Hepatitis is being undermined by a severe shortage of funds and healthcare professionals, according to officials at Juba Teaching Hospital.
Speaking during World Hepatitis Day commemorations, Dr. Bino Andra, a Hepatologist, highlighted the dire situation:
“Lack of clinical data in the treatment of Hepatitis is a challenge, as health we still don’t have Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) machines, and our patients can’t afford hepatitis vaccines/drugs that cost around $65−90 private clinics,” he said.
“This scares away many patients making it difficult to suppress the virus and even monitoring them become hard creating a treatment gap, especially for patients with Hepatitis B who require entecavir drugs that cost at least 50$ every month.”
Entecavir is a drug used for the treatment of hepatitis B.
Dr. Andra emphasized the need for government intervention, including increased funding and a national immunization program.
“We also need to update our strategic plans and guidelines and disseminate them because the last guidelines some of us are using are for 2020 and I have just got the one for 2023. We also need the policy of adoptions on the universal vaccination of the newly born as the only way to eliminate hepatitis virus,” he added.
Dr. Agai K. Akec, while acknowledging the challenges, highlighted ongoing efforts such as Expanded Immunization Programs and blood safety measures.
However, he emphasized the need for a national study to assess Hepatitis prevalence.
Dr. Anthony Lupai, Director General of Juba Teaching Hospital, called for urgent action.
“Our Theme is “It’s Time for Action” but we cannot take action if healthcare workers do not know about hepatitis, you cannot take action if you don’t know what the problem is and how to do it above all we need an enabling environment by enabling ourselves with information and capacity to take action.”
South Sudan has been grappling with Hepatitis E outbreaks since 2014, with over 5,600 cases and 27 deaths reported.
The country faces a significant challenge in combating the disease amidst resource constraints.