During the African Hepatitis Summit in Abuja, Finn Jarle Rode, the Executive Director of the Hepatitis Fund, revealed this information while fielding questions from the media. He bemoaned the fact that around ten times less money is being spent globally than is required to eradicate hepatitis B and C.
He said that currently, about $500 million is spent annually on the global eradication of viral hepatitis, stating that this amount is well short of what is needed to combat the disease head-on.
He stated that if we can stop the disease from being passed from mother to child, we would be able to prevent almost all cases. He identified several risk factors, such as drug misuse, multiple sex partners, blood transfusions, and Hepatitis B transmission from mother to child.
"The African Hepatitis Summit is to raise awareness locally, regionally, and globally, of course, to have the chance to have donors wake up, the government wake up, and do the same as Egypt," he stated.
"Start locally, talk with your government, get your head of state's consent, and then look for funds from outside your country. That's the method to follow. In Egypt, it is how things are done.
We're doing the same thing right now in Pakistan. Where the government first makes a commitment, after which they approach us and ask, "Can you visit our nation and invite donors from abroad?
"We present this for discussion. While it's not a novel idea to see what you can contribute in the way of matching funds, working with contributors presents a somewhat high leverage opportunity. They will come to the table and contribute money if they observe others participating in the donation.
When asked if financing was available to help African governments prevent the spread of hepatitis B and C from mother to child, Rodes responded, "The most important activity we support is mother to child transmission." Seventy to eighty percent of the cash should go toward the programs.
Programs that center on the MCTC should receive a portion of the total funding that we have. That is really significant to us. We speak with various countries and international funds during conferences. Thus, the GAVI immunization is crucial. The global organization GAVI works with governments to promote immunization.
"The government has the opportunity to be a major player in vaccination, but they don't pay for everything; they just distribute and handle the logistics."
Additionally, he urged the federal government to take the World Health Organization's (WHO) advice seriously and incorporate hepatitis into the National Health Plan and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), as the WHO has the knowledge, resources, and capacity to adequately advise the nation on how to ensure the eradication of viral hepatitis.