It was another Health Week at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), one of Nigeria’s second generation universities established in 1975, sitting at the heart of Northwestern part of Africa’s most populous country. The Usmanu Danfodiyo University Medical Students Association (UDUMSA) launched a hepatitis outreach on July 2, 2026.
For years, the students have been extending medical services to audiences outside the university’s campus as part of their Health Week’s programs. The students often visit underserved environments: markets, rural areas, basic schools, among others, where health challenges are dominant but often overlooked.
However, that custom changed in 2026.
As the globe prepares for July 28 to commemorate “World Hepatitis Day,” the students consider it as an opportunity to coincide with their 2026 medical outreach. They host hepatitis awareness among the students of UDUS.
Hepatitis is a deadly communicable disease that goes directly to liver failure, easily to be contacted and more dangerous to manage than HIV/AIDS. The disease is classified into A, B, C, D, and E depending on its transmission, severity, geographical distribution, and prevention methods.
Managing hepatitis is even more expensive when someone gets infected. Comprehensive management, including routine diagnostics brings the total direct and indirect annual cost to about N564,959 ($1,487). This is a distanced adventure for students who dominantly come from low income earning backgrounds, especially in a country where earning is already hand-to-mouth.
UDUMSA students disclose that this is their primary reason for stepping up.
The association reaches young students who are not only indifferent to their health status but would be hearing hepatitis for the first time and what it means to be tested positive for the disease.
“Many of those students do not even know what hepatitis is,” said Abubakar Abdullahi Ibrahim, a final-year student of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) and President of UDUMSA.
From hepatitis screening, the beneficiaries get to know their genotype group, blood group, including their blood pressure status. The session also featured a blood donation drive where participants enjoy free medical screenings and donate blood for emergency users.
Participants were orientated on how to prevent contracting the disease. They were also charged to do confirmatory screenings, setting pace into how those students should manage their health to avoid problems.
Students were also encouraged to get vaccinated for the disease without payment. This information, participants revealed, they find shocking. Getting hepatitis vaccination assures low possibility of being infected for the disease.
“We screened a total number of 135 students for hepatitis. We told them about hepatitis, how to go about it because it is a preventable disease,” recounted Muizat Abubakar, another student of MBBS in her fifth year, who doubled as the initiative Chairperson.
The students shared that they collaborated with UDUTH, including Sokoto State Ministry of Health, to organize the hepatitis outreach in July.
UDUTH is the university’s College of Health Sciences. Medical and health-related students use it as a campus and receive studies. It also accommodates the biggest hospital in Sokoto.
The hospital successfully conducted its first-ever kidney transplant in 2025. The groundbreaking procedure was performed by a team of highly skilled medical professionals led by Prof. A.I. Mungadi.This marks a significant milestone in the hospital’s commitment to advancing medical services in Nigeria.
Beneficiaries feel impacted
Bello Bilal, a final year student of Law, initially feels indifferent to the program. He develops an interest when the medical students visit his faculty through the hepatitis campaign. At that time, Bello and other fellow students feel encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity.
Bello takes no time a moment later to drive to the venue alongside his few colleagues. He firstly checked his blood pressure before engaging in a free hepatitis test.
He was moved with how those medical students conduct themselves in a professional manner. The orderly process, Bello states, simplifies the effort of explaining what hepatitis is all about, including how to prevent and manage the disease.
Dahiru Sufyanu, another Law student, shares a similar experience. He commends the outreach for prioritizing the wellbeing of students. For him, the hepatitis outreach gives him an opportunity to confirm that his blood pressure is not in issue. This comes at his convenience without visiting a hospital.
Dahiru admits to this reporter that although it was his first time showing up and engaging in medical checkup, the outreach has opened his eyes. He is now determined to get it done regularly in order to take the best decision in relation to his wellness whenever necessary.
Hepatitis is one of the dominant diseases facing people globally, with a total number of 304 million people worldwide living with hepatitis B or C. This causes an estimated 1.3 million deaths every year. However, Nigeria carries the third-highest viral world hepatitis burden, with over 20 million people chronically infected with Hepatitis B (HBV) or Hepatitis C (HCV). This results in substantial economic losses and tens of thousands of deaths annually.
The 2026 Hepatitis Outreach by UDUMSA is not just another turn of events. The participants’ accounts reveal the dominant fear that motivates the organizers to impact their immediate community through medical outreach.
Research shows that chronic diseases like hepatitis are primary causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The research discloses that preventative screenings such as the one UDUS medical students promote, are the most effective way of reducing the risk to develop such chronic conditions. However, many people fail to take advantage of preventive screening services, especially in rural communities.
Among the major reasons driving unwillingness to participate in medical checkup, the research continues, are lack of time, a belief that one is currently healthy, and a belief that screening procedures were too complicated to understand.
In addition, the research identifies affordability, the convenience of screening site locations, and other considerations related to healthcare providers and diagnostic facilities, as some of the factors that increase participation in medical screenings — these are exactly the conditions offered by UDUMSA students which encouraged the participants to take advantage of the opportunity.
“This is my first time partaking in this kind of initiative and it motivated me to donate blood in the near future,” said Bilal, his face wearing a confident look.
‘Everyone deserves the outreach’ — claims medical students
Although the event planners emphasize that the outreach is supposedly meant for students outside UDUTH, medical students argue that the initiative is necessary to them too. As they formed part of the organizing team, they also joined in getting screened.
Kamiyo Jafar Oladunjoye, a newly admitted student of MBBS left the event with a bag full of benefits. He shows gladness in forming part of the outreach during an interview with Amsterdam News.
He benefits from the blood pressure check and Packed Cell Volume (PCV) test. PCV test also known as hematocrit test measures the percentage of red blood cells in human total blood volume. It is usually part of a Complete Blood Count (CBC) and helps diagnose conditions like anemia (low red blood cells) and dehydration (concentrated red blood cells).
Through the blood donation process, Kamiyo enjoys the privilege of confirming his blood group, genotype, and hepatitis status.
As a recipient who once underwent a blood transfusion, Kamiyo pretty much knows the importance of blood donation. And that has been his long-term goal. But he only gets to materialize his dream not until the UDUMSA 2026 Hepatitis Outreach.
“Many years ago, I was critically ill, weak, and in urgent need of a blood transfusion,” Kamiyo was taken aback to his former self. “A stranger saved my life before I was old enough to even remember.”
As part of the organizing team, the first-year student mobilizes students to the event location, encourages fellow students to take advantage of the opportunity, and promotes health awareness within his community. On the other side of the coin, the experience is a cue for him to maintain a healthy lifestyle and seek regular medical check-ups after his test came out with results within the normal range.
Ummi Ahmed Abdullahi, another MBBS student in her fourth-year, believes the initiative is very necessary and timely. She argues that the students’ initiative is a drive towards encouraging similar services. She urges professional health workers to also look in a similar direction.
The Hepatitis Outreach is special to Ummi because health education is what she values. While the information passed by students might be available at the hospital, she emphasizes that awareness like the one organized by UDUMSA students is recommendable. Why? Because by the time they would need it, the patients might not be in the best state of mind to pay proper attention to what a doctor is saying due to their illness conditions.
“I have been told, it has been reiterated, and I know that I have to be healthy. This is a significant part that has stayed with me since I participated in the outreach,” said Ummi.
One thing stands out for Ummi throughout the program. It was how everything flows seamlessly and perfectly. With professional doctors and emergency-assisted plans on ground, the event prepares to take care of emergencies upon the needs.
Addressing challenges through collaboration
Just like any other initiatives, UDUS medical students also experience some challenges before they successfully organize the program. From arrangements of financial support to accessing the medical equipment necessary for the screenings, the students say, “planning the outreach was covered by a web of doubts, struggle, and way out.”
Abubakar, the President of UDUMSA, recognizes the high expenses of getting screened for the medical checkups provided by the outreach. The cost of a basic hepatitis rapid screening test in Nigeria is as high as N8,500 ($7), while advanced or private lab packages stand at the rate of N34,500 ($26). Advanced confirmatory viral load testing costs up to N90,000 ($67).
To cover the expenses of the tests, the students initiate a blood donation drive. Through the program, Abubakar mentions, 36 pants of blood were secured for the hospital. As the hospital supports the outreach, the students also contribute to the emergency needs of the hospital. More importantly, the beneficiaries enjoy free medical services and give back to the needy.
“We are in Nigeria and we need to be true to ourselves. To get some of these tests done, it is expensive. You cannot afford it at students’ level,” said Abubakar.
“We now use our senses. The Haematology Department in UDUTH, even if they don’t have money to support us, they have these machines to provide for us in order to do the tests.”
Putting it in context, Abubakar explains: “Blood donation is very very important. Let us say a pregnant woman bleeding to death is rushed to the hospital and she has no one to come to her rescue in donating blood for her. She comes here for work and her husband stays outside the country. They now ask her to pay maybe N20,000 ($15) before she can even get a transfusion.
“Do you know what our blood donation drive means? You have saved the woman the risk and stress of running helter-skelter in searching for a suitable donor. You saved not just her life alone, but also the life of her unborn child[ren].”
From her part, Muizat, the outreach’s Chairperson, appreciates the individuals who donate money to settle the financial parts of the program. She also recognizes the support of Sokoto State Ministry of Health who donate some necessary materials that aid the screening procedures.
“The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Department in UDUTH helped us with some of the devices we use. The school management also contributed significantly to the outreach.”
Professor Abubakar Umar Musa, the Head of Department, Haematology and Blood Transfusion, UDUTH, relays to AmNews that his unit provides a special coaching to the students before setting out to field, including guidance and counselling on how to implement the outreach successfully.
“About 46 voluntary blood donors were successfully bled during the exercise.
The department provided the technical aspects of the screening, the bleeding, and some refreshments for the voluntary blood donors.”
Although the students planned to reach more people, the 135 participants benefitted from the medical outreach and the staggering 36 pants of blood secured are testaments to the value of the program.
The entire event reflects students implementing what they were taught in class and laboratories right before going to the labor market.
Ummi concludes: “From the hepatitis awareness, I also get to know how hepatitis spreads through an uncontrolled sexual relationship.”
For a patient undergoing a major surgery, Kamiyo states, or a mother with severe bleeding after childbirth, a single donation can make all the difference.
Professor Abubakar emphasizes that the program engages students in activities that promote healthy well-being of individuals and the society at large. He encourages similar steps among students.
“Patients who will eventually get the blood donated will certainly appreciate the kind gesture of voluntary blood donation as it will save their lives or improve the quality of their lives.”
“Furthermore, the act of voluntary donating blood for someone else unknown to you to use at the time of need promotes brotherliness and sense of collective belonging in the society.”
