By:Robert Mutasi
It can hide inside the body for decades without showing a single warning sign. By the time symptoms appear, Hepatitis B may have already caused severe liver damage or even cancer.
Now, researchers are warning that the virus is silently spreading within households in parts of Baringo County, leaving many families unaware that they are living with the infection.
For patients, the battle goes beyond medicine. The cost of treatment, food, transport and laboratory tests is adding a heavy financial burden to an already difficult diagnosis.
For Jennifer Maritim, the news came as a shock. Diagnosed with Hepatitis B in 2025, she immediately began treatment. But managing the disease has proved costly.
“Huu ugonjwa si tu matibabu, ni gharama pia,” she says.
The expenses of medication, food and travelling to hospital have become part of her daily struggle.
Jennifer is among many patients caught in what researchers describe as a silent epidemic.
Dr. Moses Otiato, a Research Scientist at KEMRI, says studies in Baringo have revealed a worrying pattern — the virus is spreading within households.
“We have noticed that this disease is actually transmitted within the household. Hepatitis B you can stay with that disease for 20 years without even knowing you are infected. That’s why we call it a silent epidemic.”
The virus can also be transmitted from an infected mother to her baby, particularly around the time of birth.
But the greatest danger, experts say, is that many infected people do not know their status.
Dr. Otiato says people aged between 35 and 45 years are among those most affected, while children are also being diagnosed.
“We have children and I can count up to eight children who are below 10 years old but are infected,” he says.
For Joseph Kemboi, the journey to diagnosis was equally difficult. He spent years being treated for other illnesses before eventually discovering that he had been living with Hepatitis B.
And getting a positive rapid test is only the beginning.
Patients often need confirmatory tests such as viral load testing — services that remain difficult to access in Baringo.
Gladys Tutoek, a health worker at Marigat Sub-County Hospital, says patients are often referred to private facilities.
“Like the viral load, we don’t have it within the county, not even in major facilities. We refer to the private sector in which it’s costly.”
A viral load test can cost between Sh10,000 and Sh14,000, she says — a price many families cannot easily afford.
Taking Testing to the Patient
A new testing approach is now seeking to close that gap.
During a Hepatitis screening campaign in Baringo to mark World Hepatitis Day 2026, Egyptian diagnostics company Reme-D deployed portable molecular testing equipment designed to bring advanced testing closer to underserved communities.
Instead of patients travelling long distances or sending samples to Nairobi, the technology allows testing to take place closer to where people live.
Dr. Salma Tammam, Chief Executive Officer of Reme-D, says the aim is to make diagnosis faster and more accessible.
“We wanted to innovate and make these tests more suitable for the environments that we operate in. Our technology, African-made technology, we can go into the field in very underserved areas and test the patients on the spot.”
The equipment can process multiple samples simultaneously, even in settings where electricity and laboratory infrastructure are limited.
According to Dr. Tammam, one machine can process up to four samples, while the Magnet 32 can handle up to 32 samples at a time.
The system can also process samples for both Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Dr. Fatma Ramadan, a laboratory technologist, says patients first undergo rapid testing before positive samples are subjected to PCR confirmation.
“Once they have any positive sample we do the confirmatory testing by using our machine. We first do the rapid test and then any positive sample we do for the PCR testing and in two hours the people are having their results.”
Awareness Could Save Lives
But health experts caution that technology alone will not defeat Hepatitis B.
They say communities must be given the information they need to understand the disease, seek testing and know their status before serious complications develop.
Hamada Gamal, Public Relations Officer at Reme-D Ltd, says awareness remains critical.
“Technology alone will not handle Hepatitis B. We need to actually go to the communities and sensitise them.”
For Jennifer, Joseph and thousands of others who may be carrying the virus without knowing it, early diagnosis could make the difference between timely treatment and discovering the disease when the liver is already severely damaged.
Hepatitis B may be silent — but the message from Baringo is becoming louder: know your status before the disease speaks for you.
