Luanda - Thirty-five reference units for the treatment and monitoring of hepatitis B have been created since 2019 in Angola, the Secretary of State for Public Health, Pinto de Sousa, said Friday in Luanda.
Among the units, 28 are in Luanda, three in Benguela, two in Cuanza Sul and two in Huíla provinces.
Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the virus of the same name that attacks the liver and can cause acute or chronic disease.
According to the Secretary of State, 6,000 hospital cases of hepatitis B, compiled by the National Institute for the Fight against AIDS, were recorded from 2014 to 2021, in the 18 provinces of the country, characterizing Angola as a place of high prevalence.
However, he stressed that despite these data, information in the country is still limited, especially for assessing possible regional differences and population groups.
He added that an isolated study of the Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B was carried out in that period, namely, in pregnant women, in prenatal consultations, a prevalence of 8.4% was found, in blood donors it was 8.4%, in long distance truck drivers 12% and 14% in sex worker females.
Speaking at the opening of a meeting to mark the World Viral Hepatitis Day, celebrated on Friday, he said that more than 81 million people with chronic Hepatitis-B live in Africa and of this number only two percent of people know what it is their situation and less than one percent receive treatment.
For this year, Angola adopted the theme “ Prevent Hepatitis! Take Care of Your Liver”, to highlight the importance of the liver for a healthy life, as well as the need to scale up the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis, thus optimizing the health of this vital organ and achieving the 2030 hepatitis elimination goals .
Survey
Pinto de Sousa announced that, for the first time, the country will carry out a study of the Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B in the sexually active population through the Survey of Multiple and Health Indicators 2023-2024, whose activities are already underway, coordinated by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).ML/VIC/DOJ
