By Makutu Manneh
Health experts in The Gambia are warning of a troubling shift in the country’s hepatitis burden, with increasing numbers of young people developing serious liver complications from hepatitis B, despite decades of vaccination efforts aimed at preventing the disease.
The warning came Monday during events marking World Hepatitis Day, where researchers and clinicians said the changing pattern underscores persistent gaps in vaccination coverage, early diagnosis, and access to treatment.
Bakary Dibba, research coordinator of the MRC Hepatitis Research Group, said chronic liver disease, once seen primarily among older adults, is now being diagnosed with growing frequency in younger Gambians.
Hepatitis B remains one of the country’s leading causes of chronic liver disease, he said, adding that the continued emergence of severe cases among people under the age of 30 raises concerns about the reach of immunization programs.
“If vaccination coverage had reached everyone, we should not be seeing these complications in younger age groups,” Dibba said.
He identified several obstacles that continue to hamper efforts to eliminate hepatitis, including limited public awareness, gaps in knowledge among some healthcare workers, stigma surrounding the disease, misinformation, delayed diagnosis, unequal access to testing and treatment, and missed opportunities to vaccinate newborns.
Despite those challenges, Dibba said The Gambia has made significant progress in combating Hepatitis B through the Ministry of Health’s National Hepatitis Control Programme.
“Here in The Gambia we have every reason to be optimistic as well,” he said. “Over the past years, remarkable progress has been achieved under the leadership of the Ministry of Health’s National Hepatitis Control Programme, especially when it comes to Hepatitis B.”
Dr. Sheikh Omar Bittaye, a specialist at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital Liver Clinic, said the country’s healthcare system continues to bear a heavy burden from hepatitis-related liver disease.
The clinic diagnoses more than 100 new cases of liver cancer each year, he said, adding that more than 2,000 people have died from liver-related complications associated with Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C since 2012.
Bittaye said the disease cuts across economic and social boundaries, affecting families throughout the country, and called for greater investment in prevention, early screening, and treatment.
“I have seen relatives dying of this disease at the hospital, and it is not like we cannot prevent this—we can,” he said. “The main culprit is actually Hepatitis B, and the prevalence is about 10 percent in The Gambia, meaning that nearly every family has someone living with Hepatitis B.”
The experts said expanding vaccination coverage, improving public awareness, increasing access to testing, and ensuring timely treatment will be essential if The Gambia is to reduce the burden of hepatitis-related liver disease and move toward the global goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat.
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