By Daniel Agbesi Latsu
Kadjebi (O/R), July 13, GNA – The Kadjebi District Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, would undertake free mass screening about five hundred people for Hepatitis B on July 28, at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.
The exercise, which formed part of the World Hepatitis B Awareness creation to climax the day with beneficiaries taking one jab out of the three shots against the disease.
Mr Stephen Ekenlebie Amoah, the Kadjebi Deputy Health Promotion Officer, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, said the disease was caused by Hepatitis B Virus (HPV), and primarily affect the liver.
Mr Amoah said it was a significant global health problem, with approximately 257 million people estimated to be chronically infected with HBV worldwide and that Hepatitis B claimed 1.34 million lives in 2015.
He noted HBV prevalence in Ghana had been between 6.7 per cent and 11 per cent among blood donors, 6.4 per cent among pregnant women, and 15.6 per cent among children in the general population.
Symptoms of Hepatitis B included fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, jaundice, muscle and joint pain, but could vary depending on the stage of the infection, he said.
Mr Amoah named unprotected sex, sharing of needles or syringes, mother-to-child transmission, contact with infected blood, among others as the mode of transmission.
He said disease was preventable through awareness creation and education to prevent unsafe sexual practices, sharing of needles, use of non-sterile equipment, and encourage uptake of Hepatitis B vaccination, among others as the surest way of preventing infection.
He said information on the disease is low, so the Health Promotion Unit would embark on massive awareness creation on it to help curtail transmission.
GNA