Health experts warn hepatitis B remains a silent epidemic in Kenya
Health experts in Kenya are highlighting hepatitis B as a silent epidemic due to low public awareness, stigma, and inadequate funding. The disease remains a significant public health threat, with some regions experiencing prevalence rates as high as 16 percent.
Why it matters
Addressing the hepatitis B crisis is essential for reducing liver cancer rates and improving public health outcomes in high-burden regions.
As Kenya joins the world to commemorate World Hepatitis Day, scientists and health experts are raising concern over hepatitis B, which has remained silent despite it being highly infectious.
In interviews with The Standard, the experts regret that many people living with hepatitis remain undiagnosed because the infection often causes no symptoms in its early stages or presents with signs that resemble common illnesses.
Dr Missiani Ochwoto, a virologist and medical research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), attributes the country's slow progress in tackling hepatitis to stigma, inadequate diagnostic capacity, low public awareness and chronic underfunding.
" Hepatitis is among the leading infectious killers, yet funding remains far below that allocated to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria," says Dr Ochwoto.
There are five types of viral hepatitis in Kenya, namely hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.
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