Hepatitis and Stigma
Hepatitis and Stigma

Across the continent of Africa millions and millions of children innocently caught Hepatitis B and C, in particular from healthcare in the past using boiled syringe needles or vaccination guns.  Many more caught it from childhood scrape, even teething and putting fingers in their mouths a lot as toddling babies.  Africa is not like the developed world where many caught these viruses from drug abuse, in this continent hepatitis is nothing to be ashamed of, more just part of growing up.  The 1 in 3 people on Earth who have caught viral hepatitis at some point did not do anything wrong, quite simply billions of people were innocently and silently infected without even knowing.

As Madam Jehan El Sadat so wisely put it in Egypt where Hepatitis C infected 15% of the population after one vaccination campaign in the 1970's,

"The innocence of being born, or trusting your doctor accompanies our hepatitis epidemic, not shame or stigma."
 
 
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