The Society for Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to declare a national emergency on viral hepatitis and urgently increase funding for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of liver and other gastrointestinal cancers.
The call was contained in a communiqué issued to newsmen on Sunday at the end of the society’s joint international conference and Annual General Meeting held in Abuja from August 12 to 15, 2026, in collaboration with the African Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Cancer Consortium, African Institute for Liver and Digestive Diseases and Nigerian Cancer Society.
SOGHIN said hepato-pancreato-biliary diseases and cancers continued to impose a heavy health burden on Nigerians, with deaths worsened by the high cost of specialised medical care.
The society said, “HPB diseases and cancers in Nigeria continue to cause exceptionally high mortality rates, worsened by the astronomical and prohibitive costs of specialised care.”
It also expressed concern over inadequate government funding for the screening, early diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal and HPB malignancies.
