Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Professor Princewill Chike has said an estimated 19 million persons are suffering from Hepatitis B and C in the country.
He stated this in a live broadcasts to mark the World Hepatitis Day
The commissioner said there is need to embrace preventive measure and including vaccination as the disease is preventable with free healthcare across all primary health care centres in the state.
Also speaking the Zonal Coordinator of the Viral Hepatitis Association of Nigeria, Samson Emerole said ignorance and carelessness of people are responsible for the increase cases of the disease.
He said the ignorance of people using herbs to treat the disease is also responsible for death relate cases of the disease.
The World Hepatitis day is observed each year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes severe liver disease and hepatocellular cancer.
This year’s theme is “Hepatitis Can’t Wait”.
