Ghana on Wednesday joined the rest of the international community to celebrate the World Hepatitis Day with a revelation that nine out 10 born babies delivered to hepatitis infected mothers in the country are infected with the virus.
Speaking at the symposium organised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and the Hepatitis Society of Ghana, a Clinical Pharmacist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr Stephen Corquaye, said the major mode of transmitting the disease was through birth.
He, however, said babies born to infected mothers could be prevented from contracting the disease if they were vaccinated within 12 hours after delivery.
He said the three-shot vaccine would help the baby to build antibodies which would protect it against the disease.
“It is rather unfortunate that pregnant women cannot be vaccinated if tested positive unless after birth,” he added.
Mr Corquaye advised the public to endeavour to go for screening to know their health status.
Giving a talk on hepatitis, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School, Dr Timothy Archampong, said hepatitis was a serious disease caused by a virus that attacked the liver.
He said hepatitis could be transferred through blood transfusion, sex, sharing of personal care items and through birth.
He said high risk factors of the disease included high infectivity rate, excess alcohol, long duration of disease and older age of acquisition.
Dr Archampong said the hepatitis B vaccine was the best protection for everybody.
The President of the Hepatitis Society of Ghana, Dr Kofi Nkrumah, said over the years, the public had been made to think that body fluids such as sweat, tear, saliva, breast milk were the modes of transmission of the disease.
However, he said, it had not been scientifically proven that those body fluids were modes of transmission.
He, therefore, advised the public to seek more counselling and advice from good medical experts and to live healthy lifestyles.
In a related development the Image of God Church International has organised a lecture and free hepatitis B screening for the public at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.
The Presiding Pastor of the church, Rev. Percy Apreala, said the programme was to reach out to the society, as their own small way of contributing to solving the health needs of the people.
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