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By Godfrey Olukya 24-7-2013
An international conference for African Francophone countries on fighting Hepatitis disease has been held in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.
The conference has been organized by an organization called ‘The Initiative Panafricaine de Lutte Contre les Hepatites (IPLH) and the conference has been dubbed “Consensus De Dakar”.
During the meeting the experts agreed on a consensus to drive prevention, awareness, research and management of hepatitis through national action plans in participating countries.
Experts including clinicians, physicians, patient groups and policy makers formulated a unified call for action towards shaping effective hepatitis policy. Among the participating countries from Francophone Africa were Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Chad, Togo and Tunisia. This group was joined by representatives from the English Africa initiative “Hepatitis in Africa – Call for Action”.
Hepatitis is a serious contagious disease of the liver caused by taking contaminated water. It is common in Africa especially in rural areas and each year it claims hundreds of lives.
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