In primary school, we were taught about The Six Killer Diseases in Social Studies. More often than not, the teacher used to make us sing The Six in unison – perhaps to make us get the answers to exam questions more easily. But among the six, only Measles and Polio made perfect sense to us, since only those attacked children of our age more often; and thus their immunization drives came straight in our midst. Little did we know that the very last of them, Hepatitis B that we hardly gave a mind; one that’s ranked as dangerous as AIDS, would come back to haunt us as adults.
On Friday October 13th, Mitchell Hall had a General Assembly, aimed at addressing various issues between residents and authorities. Many issues were raised: from broken shower heads and taps, faulty Wi-Fi, theft and other security risks, and harmonious living with students that use the Mitchell Main hall as a lecture theater. However, the most alarming of them all was the unprecedented level of spread of Hepatitis B, a disease caused by Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). It is a major global health problem, which can cause chronic infection and puts people at a high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer, but it has a vaccine 95% effective in preventing its infection and development, according to The World Health Organization(WHO).
Since most of the testing and immunization outreach programs for HPV in Makerere University have been executed in Mitchell Hall, Syson Ashaba, the Health Minister of the Hall, says it is feasible to conclude that the results got from the hall represent the entire university – some halls have never hosted such programs.
“The initial testing in May this year, found 4 out of 200 participants positive of HBV. The second time it was 5 out of 193. Then came 3 out of 98, and now 5 out of 100 tested students have been found to have the deadly virus.” Iterated Ashaba, clearly showing in his tone how lethal the situation is.
“Students are at a worrying risk because of this rate. The virus spreads through all body fluids, but sweat has been found with a limited percentage – only DNA and no proof of transmission. But saliva is the biggest medium. Also, vaginal and other fluids contacted during sexual intercourse have a bigger sum.” He added, further admitting that the rates are mostly due to lackadaisical sexual habits by students.
There is treatment for Hepatitis B but it is incurable at the chronic stage and requires a liver transplant – which is admittedly too expensive for the average Ugandan. The problem is, the signs and symptoms show up really late: 2 to 6 months after infection is when one notices the yellow eyes and skin, dark urine, vomiting, general body weakness, pain in the right abdomen – which means the liver is affected. Students are encouraged to test so that they can be vaccinated if negative, and go through a liver function test if positive. Never know they could be carriers or immune to it.
A dose of the HBV vaccine is about 35,000 shillings at Novik Hospital, 25,000 at IHK and 40,000 at Victoria/Cardic. Lucky enough, when there is an outreach in the university, it costs between 10 to 15,000 shillings only: to be vaccinated at CEDAT, School of Statistics, Agriculture; Mitchell, Livingstone and University Halls. So please, dear comrade, stand up and save your life from one of The Six Killer Diseases!
