Save Your Liver Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has organised a free medical screening for residents at Dome in Accra as part of activities marking this year’s World Hepatitis Day.

 

Dr Isaac Abu-Bonsra, the Health Co-ordinator of the NGO, said statistics showed that about 325 million people worldwide were infected with the disease in 2015.

 

He said out of the number, a total of 1.34 million died of the disease, a situation which, when not checked, would deprive many countries of future leaders.

 

Dr Abu-Bonsra said the disease was 100 times more infectious than the Human Immune Virus (HIV) and called for enhanced sensitisation.

 

He said the NGO had been organising free medical screening on the disease for the past 10 years in various communities and called on the public to maintain clean surroundings at all times.

 

He said Hepatitis was grouped in five; ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, and ‘E’ and stressed that the ‘B’ group was the most dangerous.

 

Dr Abu-Bonsra said Hepatitis ’B’ was treatable and preventable and urged   the public to report immediately to the hospital when it was detected.

 

He appealed to the Government to subsidise its treatment, especially for pregnant women, to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

 

GNA