The Upper East Regional Hospital is organising free screening for viral hepatitis B and C to mark this year’s World Hepatitis Day.
The exercise, which is opened to the general public, will take place today, July 28, 2023 from 9am to 3pm at the Central Mosque close to the Taxi Rank in Bolgatanga.
Speaking in an interview on Breakfast News, a physician specialist at the regional hospital, Dr. Emmanuel Akatibo explained that the exercise is to ensure early detection of the diseases for treatment and to prevent spread of particularly viral hepatitis B through vaccination.
He indicated that the diseases are prevalent in Ghana and thus, the need to intensify sensitization and treatment to contain their spread.
“In Ghana, most of the studies that have been done, we ranged between 8 to 12 percent. That’s the prevalence rate of viral hepatitis B and this makes Ghana an endemic country. We have a lot of the population who are infected with viral hepatitis B and this virus although sometimes it can be quite not disturbing but you can equally develop complications that are irreversible,” he said.
“We are not waiting for them to come with the complications that we see. We want to reach out to them and that’s the main focus. So that by the next 20, 30 years down the line, we would have been able to eliminate viral hepatitis B in the system”.
World Hepatitis Day, which falls on July 28 each year, is a day set aside to create awareness about viral hepatitis B and C.
Although there are several types of hepatitis, Dr. Akatibo explained that only the hepatitis B and C are deadly thus, the focus on them.
Hepatitis B, he indicated, is transmitted mainly through mother to child, sharing sharp instruments such as needles and sexual intercourse with an infected person. The mode of transmission of hepatitis C is majorly through sex and use of contaminated sharp instruments, he added.
Dr. Akatibo said while there is vaccine for hepatitis B, there’s none for hepatitis C.
However, hepatitis C can be cured though the cost of treatment is expensive whereas there is no cure for hepatitis B.
