Over 18 million Nigerians have been infected with hepatitis virus and most of them are unaware because of ignorance and lack of medical check-up, Prof. Abraham Orkurga Malu of the Department of Medicine, University of Jos, has said.

He said that Nigeria required N165 billion of drugs to treat hepatitis C, adding that with political will, “the government can afford to solve this disturbing health challenge.”

Prof. Malu, speaking yesterday at a colloquium organised in honour of the President of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Prof. Musa Muhammad Borodo, by the College of Health Sciences, Bayero University, Kano and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, titled: ‘The Burden of Viral Hepatitis, Challenges and Treatment in Nigeria’, held at Marhaba Event Centre, Kano, said in Nigeria, the knowledge of viral hepatitis remained limited among the public, at-risk population, policy makers, and even health care providers.