Abstract
Hepatitis is a serious public health concern with a mortality rate of approximately 1 million per year. Despite seriousness of disease and its associated complications, the rapidly increasing prevalence of disease and high mortality rate is associated with poor clinical care. Lack of health literacy might hinder access to clinical care resulting in further escalation of disease. A pharmacist led screening and educational interventional program was conducted to screen hepatitis and assess the knowledge of disease among low-income community workers and their families at various localities across Lahore, Pakistan for a duration of 6 months. Knowledge, practices and attitudes regarding hepatitis was assessed by a validated study instrument. All the patients were then enrolled in an exclusive educational program designed to create awareness of hepatitis by clinical pharmacists.A total of 560 participants (females 70%) registered at the medical camp. Hepatitis C was prevalent in 104 (18.6%) patients while 18 (3%) patients had positive hepatitis B screening results. Only 17 (3%) participants had positive results for both hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Based on scoring system, the participants showed poor knowledge (94%), attitude (59%) and practices (87%) about the disease. Patients with positive screening results were then enrolled in the treatment program. Given the high-rate hepatitis infections in Pakistan and lack of awareness of the disease observed in this study, more efforts and resources should be devoted to improve health disparities in low socio-economic population. Pharmacists, being a most accessible healthcare professionals, are valuable addition in healthcare team to curb the hepatitis burden in Pakistan.