LAHORE: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued an alarming report indicating that Pakistan has the highest number of viral hepatitis C infections in the world, totalling around 8.8 million. The report states that Pakistan accounts for 44 per cent of all new hepatitis C infections, which are attributed to unsafe medical injections.
In previous years, Egypt reported the largest number of hepatitis C and B cases, followed by Pakistan.
The data from 187 countries reveals that the estimated number of deaths from viral hepatitis has risen from 1.1 million in 2019 to 1.3 million in 2022. Of these, 83% were attributed to hepatitis B and 17% to hepatitis C, as reported.
If the number of hepatitis B and hepatitis C cases are combined, then Pakistan ranks fifth in the world, only trailing behind China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria, with around 12.6 million cases reported in 2022.
WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report 2024 reveals country accounts for 44pc of new infections from unsafe injections
The WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report 2024 shows that ten countries are responsible for almost two thirds of the global burden of viral hepatitis B and C. These countries are Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the Russian Federation.
For hepatitis C, six countries — China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, and the US — supposedly represent 50% of the global burden. However, the report claims that Egypt has become the first country to achieve gold tier status on the path to the elimination of hepatitis C, based on fulfilling WHO criteria, which will supposedly set the country up to achieve the reduced incidence and mortality targets of full elimination before 2030.
In addition, as of Dec 2023, 16 countries have been validated for eliminating either one or more among HIV, syphilis and HBV, the report noted.\
Commenting on the report, senior medical experts say most of the patients in Pakistan are either diagnosed incidentally or get symptomatic when their illness advances years after getting the infection.
Dr. Masood Sheikh, from the Lahore General Hospital, informed Dawn that Pakistan is currently bearing the second-largest burden of hepatitis C globally, with a nationwide prevalence of 4.8 percent.
“From 2015 to 2019, there was a 5pc increase in hepatitis C-related deaths and an 8pc increase in hepatitis B-related deaths,” he said.
The transmission of the virus increased manifold in Pakistan due to ignorance of sterilisation techniques, sharing personal items, and unsafe healthcare practices. He lamented that the burden of liver cancers and transplants has risen three-fold all over the country over the past 20 years.
“Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that can cause a range of health problems and can be fatal,” Dr Sheikh said.
The latest WHO report also contains information on access to health products from 38 countries for the viral hepatitis response, which together account for about 80pc of the global disease burden of viral hepatitis B and C.
Updated WHO estimates indicate that 254 million people live with hepatitis B and 50 million with hepatitis C in 2022 all over the world.
“Half the burden of chronic hepatitis B and C infections was diagnosed in 30–54 age group, 12pc among children under 18 years of age,” reads the report. Men account for 58pc of all the cases.
Drug pricing data shows that the lowest price for a 12-week treatment of daclatasvir/sofosbuvir for hepatitis C was around $33 in Pakistan for a generic course. On the other hand, the highest price was approximately $10,000 in China.
