Senator Sunday Marshall Katung has launched "Project 365," a public health campaign targeting the elimination of viral hepatitis in Southern Kaduna. The initiative was unveiled in Kafanchan on Friday as a year-long effort to provide widespread testing, treatment, and public education across the senatorial district. Katung described the project as a response to the silent spread of hepatitis, stating, "no community should be left behind in the fight against a disease that thrives in silence." The programme is being implemented in partnership with the federal government and other health stakeholders. It includes mobile testing units, community outreach, and free treatment for diagnosed cases. The campaign will run for 365 days, giving the project its name. Katung's office said the goal is to screen thousands of residents, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. The senator, who represents Kaduna South, emphasized early detection and treatment as key to reducing transmission. Public health officials at the event noted that viral hepatitis remains a significant but often overlooked health burden in Nigeria, with many cases going undiagnosed. The project is one of the few constituency-level efforts in the country focused solely on hepatitis elimination.
Senator Sunday Marshall Katung's launch of "Project 365" stands out not for its scale, but for its rarity—a sitting senator directly funding and coordinating a targeted, year-long health intervention in a region long neglected by national public health priorities. While federal health programmes often stall or dissipate at the state level, Katung is leveraging his constituency project allocation to fill a critical gap, focusing on a disease that kills quietly and disproportionately affects rural populations.
Southern Kaduna's healthcare infrastructure has long suffered from underfunding and insecurity, creating fertile ground for preventable diseases like hepatitis to spread unchecked. The fact that a senator must step in to lead a 365-day campaign reveals how thin the presence of Nigeria's national disease control systems remains at the grassroots. Katung's direct involvement, including mobile testing units and free treatment, suggests a level of hands-on governance more often promised than delivered.
For residents of Southern Kaduna, especially in remote communities, this project could mean the difference between early diagnosis and late-stage liver disease. Farmers, market traders, and young adults—groups rarely reached by urban-centric health drives—stand to benefit most.
This effort fits a growing pattern where Nigerian lawmakers double as de facto local administrators, stepping into roles that should belong to dedicated health agencies, exposing both the fragility of public systems and the potential of targeted political will.
