​Hepatitis: nearly 1.8 million of Senegalese are chronic carriers according to the health authorities 

  According to a study carried out in 2018, some 1.5 million Senegalese are chronic carriers of hepatitis B and 300,000 are carriers of hepatitis C, the Director General of Health, Professor Ousmane Cissé, said on Monday. ” 1.5 million Senegalese are chronic carriers of hepatitis B and 300 000 are chronic carriers of hepatitis C. Recent studies have made it possible to evaluate the course of viral hepatitis B and C”, he stressed during the World Hepatitis Day celebrated on 28 July. The Director General of Health presided over this meeting on the theme “Hepatitis, let’s break down all the obstacles” organized by the Réseau des associations de lutte contre les hépatites, in collaboration with the Safara Hepatitis Association, in the Mariama Ba room of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy High School. “There are healthy carriers who have the hepatitis B virus in their blood but there are people who need a biannual follow-up. The objective of a liver disease is to go towards cirrhosis”, noted Pr Dia.. For him, ” there is the awareness that must be put to end hepatitis, especially since 2016, vaccination is integrated in the expanded vaccination program “.. Cissé assured that Senegal renews its “commitment” and its “ambition” to move towards the elimination of this disease by 2030, “in accordance with the guidelines of the WHO”. In a panel on the management of hepatitis, Professor Daouda Dia stressed that “everything begins with the screening, the identification of persons suffering from hepatitis B”. “60% of the patients we see have a liver disease, and 85% of them have the hepatitis B virus”, explains Dr Dia, a gastroenterologist specializing in liver and digestive tract diseases. With APS