One In 10 Ghanaians Has Hepatitis B- Study

The Ghana Association for the Study of Liver and Digestive Diseases’ (GASLIDD) president, Prof. Yaw Asante Awuku, has disclosed about 75 percent of liver cancer cases in the country result from Hepatitis B infection.

Right now, one out of 10 Ghanaians has Hepatitis B with cases said to be on the rise. Prof. Awuku went on to say that lifestyle and mother-to-child transmission are both modes of transmission.

He stated that aggressive awareness campaigns and ongoing child vaccination must be intensified in opposition to this. All the more critically, people ought to be urged to get tested.

He added that, there are avenues to seek care and prevent liver cancer or any liver cirrhosis for those who are positive about their diagnosis.

At the opening ceremony of the Africa HepatoPancreatoBiliary Cancer Consortium (AHPBCC) in 2023 in Accra, Prof. Asante Awuku gave a speech.

Nonetheless, he added that there is a ‘Stop Hepatitis C’ project wherein the people who are positive are being offered free treatment at all local and teaching hospital.

“We are looking at eradicating viral hepatitis; so if we have something dedicated for that, a lot of academic and service institutions will tap into it and make it happen,” he expressed.

An annual scientific conference, AHPBCC 2023 was held in partnership with GASLIDD to address gaps in research, medical education and training, and clinical care for patients with liver, pancreas, and bile duct cancers by bringing together experts from Africa, the United States, and Europe.

Over 200 researchers and clinicians make up the consortium, which is responsible for developing new approaches to risk reduction, early detection, and increased patient survival from these cancers.

The consortium’s membership represents eight African nations, eight establishments in the US and four organizations in Europe.

The meeting in Accra brought together in excess of 200 members from across Africa, Europe and the US.

According to Prof. Awuku, this program is training people and setting the agenda for the future.

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Several Speakers were at the three-day event including personnel from the USA and Egypt. They spoke about on genomics, malignant growth risk; hereditary the study of disease transmission of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and pancreatic neuroendocrine cancers.

Others included Dr. Yvonne Nartey and Dr. Atsu, Ghana; and Dr. Manal El-Sayed of Egypt, who talked about the ‘Stop Hepatitis C’ project in Ghana, among many other renowned international health practitioners.

Speaking on the second annual scientific conference’s side-lines, the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, disclosed that the ongoing ‘Stop Hepatitis C’ initiative is being supported with one million doses of medicines which cure Hepatitis C.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is planning to fast-track the passage of a law on organ transplant.