Hepatitis B Vaccination for Ghanaian Children

We have officially given the second dose to every 4^th grade student who was present during the first round of vaccinations except for two students that have unexpectedly left for summer break. There were some difficult moments along the way as there were multiple absences for the second dose. We had set up a second day to vaccinate the 6 absent kids, and only 3 came to school that day. We ended up going to the houses of the other 3 and administering the vaccine right there in their yards. It was quite an adventure, but everyone was accounted for and vaccinated. This dose was very vital; without it, the first dose would have been worthless.

Of the 11 students from class 4 that tested positive, 4 of them were diagnosed with acute hepatitis B and 7 were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B. We have been working to inform the parents and students and have them meet with the doctor at Justab Hospital in order to create a treatment plan that suits their needs. For those students with acute hepatitis B, their regimen will last for six months, which should work to clear or reduce their viral load to a very manageable level. They will have to return for checkups in the future, but they will have a good chance of living easily with this disease. Those with chronic hepatitis B, however, will need to take medicine for at least two years in order to combat the liver damage they’ve sustained. After two years, they will need to meet regularly with their doctor in order to track their liver damage. The cost of treatment is 100 Ghana Cedi ($33) per month. This means the chronic cases will need to spend over 2400 cedi ($600) in order to decrease their viral load to a manageable amount. For a community that mainly survives on subsistence fishing, this cost is astronomical. We want to subsidize the costs for these students so that they can afford the expensive medicine.

Our next step is to return in October to give the 3^rd and final shot, which will boost protection against hepatitis B from 80% up to 99.99%. We plan to continue fund raising in order to screen and vaccinate the students in class 5 and 6 this October. We also hope to sponsor each child that tested positive for hepatitis B to help pay for their medical expenses.

We would all like to thank each and every donor that has helped support this project. Without you all this would have been impossible to pull off. We hope to continue our efforts and vaccinate every child. We will keep you updated along the way!

Best,

Hep B Team Members – Intern and Madelynn

We are very glad to report that the first round of screening and vaccination was a huge success!

The week began with educational talks on Hepatitis B for year four students. They learned the symptoms, outcomes, treatment, and prevention of the disease, as well as what to expect on the screening and vaccination day. We were very happy to have Mr. Tahir, an administrator from Justab Hospital who is very passionate about spreading knowledge of Hepatitis B, speak to the students.

On Thursday June 12^th the CHF public health team and staff from Justab Hospital worked together to screen 99 students in fourth grade at DA School. 91 students tested negative, and were then given the first dose of the HBV vaccine.

Unfortunately eight students tested positive for Hepatitis B. We are currently running profiles on their blood samples to determine the stage of their infection, and are contacting their parents to help them receive the care they need. Interestingly, a prevalence of 8% in our sample is equivalent to the reported prevalence of HBV infection in Ghana as a whole.

Despite these numbers aligning, the experts at Justab Hospital described the positive infection rate as higher than usual for an elementary school. This fact is both reinforcing our decision to work with this particular school, and inspiring us to continue working hard to raise the money we need to vaccinate students in grades five and six.

We will be returning to DA School on June 25^th to vaccinate those students who were absent this week, as well as meet with the parents of children who screened positive for Hep B.

Thank you once again to everyone who donated – we couldn’t have done any of this without you.

Medaase pa,

Claire and Emily