Public Health and Epidemiology Participation: Viral Hepatitis in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

1. Introduction
Introduction: Infection with hepatitis viruses is a major public health problem, and decision-makers are still not prioritizing the control measures and providing the necessary funding. Viral hepatitis is a major global health problem. In 2014, it was estimated that about 257 million and 33 million people were living with chronic HBV and HCV infections, respectively. Almost 1.4 million people died from these infections, most of these cases encountered in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Viral hepatitis was ranked as the seventh leading cause of mortality in 2013, while in the most recent assessment for 2017, the death rates were significantly different. The age-standardized mortality decreased for most infectious diseases, and viral hepatitis moved to the 12th and 15th ranks for the highest and lowest Socio-Demographic Index countries, respectively. The study highlights the changing picture of viral hepatitis in the last ten years and draws attention to the relatively modest performance of viral hepatitis infectious control globally, as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Methods
Data Collection The literature papers included in this article were searched from many sources. Additionally, traditional sources were searched, such as the authors’ personal collections. Data were collected from related papers about the prevalence of hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E in different regions and their distribution in Saudi Arabia, patients’ nationality, the diagnostic tests, disease characterization and manifestation, the prevalence of viral hepatitis coinfection, the role of regional differences in the biology of diseases, and the potential address for future research in this area. Unlike screening programs or prevalence studies where both publication status and study origin may have a major impact on selective reporting, in order to minimize the risk of selection bias, we will include all the identified published and unpublished data without any language or publication status restrictions. Moreover, no abstract requirement has been predetermined. Additionally, sponsors and funding organizations played no role in this study, either in its conduct, writing report, or the decision to submit the report for publication.
Conclusion
The findings of this study highlight that viral hepatitis research in Saudi Arabia is still limited. These findings should be generalized with caution. It is important in the future to reduce the incidence of viral hepatitis, which could be achieved by implementing successful health policies. Standard viral hepatitis prevention and control policies, improvements in healthcare, and a national strategy to train healthcare workers are important to consider for decision-makers. Performing adequate surveillance of the prevalence and etiology of the causes of acute and chronic hepatitis is the foundation for these preventive and control efforts. More awareness about prevention, including vaccination among risk groups and adherence to the guidelines of all healthcare providers in KSA, would strongly support the successful elimination of viral hepatitis in the long term. Though few research gaps have been identified through this scoping review, most of the gaps were related to the limited publication for each type of viral hepatitis. Despite these gaps, a few areas were shown to have high scientific output and strong interest. It was concluded that research is essential to improve the strategies to control viral hepatitis in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, research is essential to improve the current strategies for screening and treatment, as well as to diagnose and prevent the long-term outcomes of infection among patients in all sectors of healthcare. Providing additional incentives for well-developed collaborative research, as well as better reporting and availability of the results of relevant studies, can be relatively easy, highly effective, and efficient measures to enhance the effectiveness and outputs of these research strategies. We feel that using incentives to encourage the publication of extensive research will have a positive impact. We hope that factors related to collaboration may be the driving force behind further strategies to promote collaboration.