AS the world marked World Hepatitis Day 2026 recently with the theme: “Hepatitis: Let’s Break It Down”, Benue State government vowed to intensify the fight against viral hepatitis through expanded testing, vaccination, and treatment.
THE global burden remains staggering. According to the World Health Organization’s 2026 Global Hepatitis Report, an estimated 287 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B or C as of 2024. Hepatitis B and C account for over 95% of hepatitis-related deaths, 1.34 million lives were lost in 2024 alone. That is more than 3,500 preventable deaths every day, a toll comparable to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.
IN Nigeria, the picture is even more urgent. Over 20 million Nigerians are estimated to be living with viral hepatitis, about 18.2 million with hepatitis B and 2.5 million with hepatitis C. Put differently; roughly, one in every ten Nigerians is infected.
IN Benue, data from 2025 showed 193 of 35,508 pregnant women tested positive for HBV, while earlier research put HBV prevalence at 8% and HCV at 1% in the state.
YET the deadliest part of this epidemic is silence. More than 90% of those infected remain undiagnosed, transmitting the virus unknowingly, including to their children. Symptoms are dismissed as malaria. People self-medicate, while the virus quietly scars the liver, leading to cirrhosis, liver failure, and cancer.
We commend the Benue State government for aligning with the Federal Government’s Project 365, a nationwide push for screening, diagnosis, and treatment to eliminate hepatitis C and halt hepatitis B transmission by 2030. The plans to integrate hepatitis services into primary healthcare and maternal and child health and to conduct outreaches across all the 23 LGAs and also provide prophylactic treatment for pregnant women living with HBV to cut mother-to-child transmission are in the right direction.
THREE barriers standing in the way: limited awareness, stigma, and weak health systems in underserved communities, where misinformation persists and symptoms are ignored until jaundice appears should also be addressed.
SUSTAINABLE progress will depend on stronger political commitment and deliberate investment in budgets, policies, and service delivery at both state and LGA levels.
TECHNICAL support from WHO, BENSACA, APIN, AHF, CHAI and other partners is welcome, but it cannot substitute for government prioritization. Development partners should sustain funding, while Civil Society should break stigma and advocate for patients. The media should keep the public informed, because knowledge truly is the first vaccine. And citizens should act: get tested, know your status, get vaccinated, and ensure newborns receive the hepatitis B birth-dose within 24 hours.
BENUE has set 2030 as the target to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat. That is four years away. With 4,900 new infections occurring globally every day, and Africa accounting for 63% of new hepatitis B cases, there is no time to waste.
NO Nigerian should die from a disease we can prevent, diagnose, and cure. Let this be the year the state moved from statements to scale. Let’s break it down: the barriers, the stigma, and the silence. Let us get to work.
