Mr. Ibrahima Gueye shared, with the audience, his experience regarding his diagnosis of viral hepatitis, whose symptoms appeared in 1979, when he was diagnosed with an unknown disease due to a lack of knowledge regarding viral hepatitis. In 2010, specialists started diagnosing him with viral hepatitis because of heightened awareness of hepatitis viruses at that time. However, he was faced with another problem, linked to the high prices of treatments and the difficulty of treatment access, which led him to mortgage his car and his home so that he could obtain access to treatment.

This inspiring experience of this brave man has highlighted the dangers of viral hepatitis in Africa due to the economic and social situation, which puts patients infected with viral hepatitis in conflicts either with the unknown because of the lack of awareness of viral hepatitis disease, or with the struggle against the the idea that it is inevitable to lose one's life due to the high cost of care and treatment, as well as the difficulty of treatment access.

This issue requires that all the parties concerned unite immediately to overcome these obstacles and that they undertake to raise awareness and provide treatment at the lowest possible cost for all African citizens through a specialists’ transnational network in Africa to fight hepatitis viruses to achieve a better future for the African continent. Discussions focused on these issues within the framework of the " "Capacity Building Training Workshop on Viral Hepatitis for African Union Member States" held from 19 to 20 November 2018, under the auspices of the African Liver Patients’Association (ALPA) and in partnership with the Scientific Technical Research Commission of the African Union.