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Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana supports mobilisation of people with hepatitis C to access Free treatment in Ghana
The Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and their partners have received hepatitis C medicines donation from the government of Egypt to treat 50,000 patients with hepatitis C across the country. Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana is the NGO spearheading the recruitment of the affected population using different approaches including, facility visits, social media platforms to link persons with hepatitis C to care.
The alliance has gone a step further to negotiate price reduction for all liver-related laboratories, such as viral load, Liver Function Test, Alpha Fetoprotein, full blood count among others with credible laboartories in Ghana. The alliance has set up a call center in its office that on daily basis call patients who have registered for the stop hepatitis C project to direct them to the nearest point they could access the subsidised laboratory test in all the 16 regions of Ghana as well as the treatment center.
The project launch saw the presence of important stakeholders such as Deputy Minister of Health, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Programme Manager of the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme, Egypt Ambassador to Ghana, Director for Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (USA) and Prof Lewis of the Mayo Clinic (USA).
In delivering his speech, the Executive Director of Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana, Dr. Charles Ampong Adjei highlighted the enormity of the struggles persons with hepatitis face in seeking treatment. He stressed on the continuous exploitation of the hepatitis community by quacks claiming to have hepatitis C treatment simply because the health system, particularly at the primary care level, has been less responsive to the needs of patients with hepatitis C.
He however stressed on the alliance excitement about the Stop Hep C Ghana Project, which aims to provide free hepatitis C treatment to Ghanaians across the country. He pledge the support of the alliance to mobilize people who are eligible for treatment to take advantage of this opportunity.
Date: March 10, 2023
National Hepatitis Support Group launched in Ghana by HAG
The hepatitis Alliance of Ghana having observed that persons with hepatitis are misinformed and are fed with inaccurate information regarding hepatitis has created a more unified platform where people with hepatitis can received accurate hepatitis information from experts, have the opportunity of having interaction with liver specialists as well as getting linked to proper care and support.
This according to the executive director of HAG, will cure the extortions by fake herbalist claiming to have cure for hepatitis, particularly hepatitis B in the country.
He said “our supportive care model platform aims to bring people with hepatitis together on a coordinator platform for information sharing and Linkage to formal care and support. The platform ensures high privacy of patient’s identity as subscribers of the channel cannot see the identity of other subscribers
Date: December 29, 2022
Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana has signed a memorandum of understanding with Christian Community Medical Center, a liver clinic in Ghana dedicated to hepatitis care, treatment, and support, to provide discounted specialized care for people living with hepatitis B and C in Ghana.
In a brief ceremony, the hospital's administrator, pledged their commitment to supporting the Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana in their efforts to create a society free of hepatitis by clinically monitoring those who are infected and treating those who are eligible. He also stated that people living with hepatitis will be able to see a liver specialist in a timely manner thanks to their online or onsite appointment system.
Dr. Charles Ampong Adjei, the Executive Director of the Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana, expressed his excitement for the Center's initiative, given that this year's theme for World Hepatitis Day seeks to bring hepatitis closer to the community.
Date: December 19, 2022
Date: December 19, 2022
First Award for Midwives championing hepatitis Elimination in Ghana announced
Through the support of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (USA) and the Taskforce for Global Health (USA), Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana sought to implement interventions that will promote introduction of hepatitis B birth dose in Ghana.
As part of the project, the alliance launched a national competition dubbed “ Midwives PMTCT of HEP-B photo and video contes”t. The call specifically asked midwives to submit their works that related to prevention of mother to child transmission of hepatitis B in their community. Different range of activities, including education, counselling, testing, and administration of birth dose were solicited and assessed by a team of experts to identify the best three of the works by the applicants and award them accordingly.
This exercise was initiated to encourage midwives to show interest in preventing vertical transmission of hepattis with hepatiis B birthdose whiles Ghana waits for a national policy to introduce the birth dose vaccine. Over 50 applications were received and three midwives were selected.
Date: December 20, 2022 Executive Director of Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana receives global award
Dr. Charles Ampong Adjei, the Executive Director of the Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana, has been named the global hepatitis elimination champion for 2022. The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (USA) and the Task Force for Global Health (USA) initiated this award to recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions to increasing political commitment, improving policies and programmes, and expanding access to interventions that accelerate progress toward hepatitis elimination.
Dr. Adjei's contribution to hepatitis elimination in Ghana began in 2008, when he noticed that pregnant women were being tested for hepatitis B, but there was no intervention in place to prevent transmission from mothers to babies at the district hospital where he worked. He took it upon himself to arrange for a hepatitis B birth dose vaccine from a nearby tertiary hospital for each new born a week before delivery and to ensure that the vaccine was administered within 12 hours of birth. Dr. Adjei could count about 20 babies who benefited from his initiative in a month, and it became a structural arrangement that every person diagnosed with hepatitis meet with him before leaving the hospital. Further, the psycho-social concerns and informational needs expressed by persons with hepatitis who came into contact with him prompted him to establish the Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana to assist the affected population. Today, the alliance has approximately 4000 membership, mainly healthcare providers (i.e., Physicians, Nurses, Midwives, Pharmacists, and Biomedical Scientists etc.) across the country.
Till date, Dr. Adjei continues to educate people about hepatitis through radio, television, and community outreach, as well as providing free hepatitis B testing in Ghana's urban, peri-urban, and rural communities. To communicate simple and accurate information to a larger audience, he employs context-specific tools such as animation, posters, and an information van. He also established a call centre where people with hepatitis, particularly those who are newly diagnosed, could call and receive information and referrals to care.
Dr. Adjei identified the need to train healthcare providers to have accurate hepatitis information, and since 2008, he has trained over 10,000 healthcare providers in 7 regions of Ghana. The majority of these providers have become hepatitis focal persons in their hospitals, offering education, counselling, and vaccination. As senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Adjei primarily conducts hepatitis-related research and has over 23 peer-reviewed journal articles to his credit.
The evidence generated by his research is frequently used to determine the training needs of healthcare providers, as well as for advocacy purposes at the national level. He has used press releases, documentaries, patient voices, and courtesy calls to draw the attention of policy-makers and stakeholders to hepatitis-related issues confronting the hepatitis community in Ghana. He has been at the forefront of advocating for the
1) introduction of hepatitis B birth dose in Ghana,
2) inclusion of hepatitis B clinical monitoring and treatment in the national health insurance scheme,
3) integration of hepatitis B service in the existing HIV structures,
4) A formalised pre and post-test counselling system in health facilities, and
5) A task shifting model to have nurse-led liver clinic sessions in all primary healthcare facilities, to mention a few.
Date: December 13, 2022
Executive Director of Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana receives global award
Dr. Charles Ampong Adjei, the Executive Director of the Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana, has been named the global hepatitis elimination champion for 2022. The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (USA) and the Task Force for Global Health (USA) initiated this award to recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions to increasing political commitment, improving policies and programmes, and expanding access to interventions that accelerate progress toward hepatitis elimination.
Dr. Adjei's contribution to hepatitis elimination in Ghana began in 2008, when he noticed that pregnant women were being tested for hepatitis B, but there was no intervention in place to prevent transmission from mothers to babies at the district hospital where he worked. He took it upon himself to arrange for a hepatitis B birth dose vaccine from a nearby tertiary hospital for each newborn a week before delivery and to ensure that the vaccine was administered within 12 hours of birth.
Dr. Adjei could count about 20 babies who benefited from his initiative in a month, and it became a structural arrangement that every person diagnosed with hepatitis meet with him before leaving the hospital. Further, the psycho-social concerns and informational needs expressed by persons with hepatitis who came into contact with him prompted him to establish the Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana to assist the affected population. Today, the alliance has approximately 4000 membership, mainly healthcare providers (i.e., Physicians, Nurses, Midwives, Pharmacists, and Biomedical Scientists etc.) across the country.
Till date, Dr. Adjei continues to educate people about hepatitis through radio, television, and community outreach, as well as providing free hepatitis B testing in Ghana's urban, peri-urban, and rural communities. To communicate simple and accurate information to a larger audience, he employs context-specific tools such as animation, posters, and an information van. He also established a call centre where people with hepatitis, particularly those who are newly diagnosed, could call and receive information and referrals to care.
Dr. Adjei identified the need to train healthcare providers to have accurate hepatitis information, and since 2008, he has trained over 10,000 healthcare providers in 7 regions of Ghana. The majority of these providers have become hepatitis focal persons in their hospitals, offering education, counselling, and vaccination. As senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Adjei primarily conducts hepatitis-related research and has over 23 peer-reviewed journal articles to his credit.
The evidence generated by his research is frequently used to determine the training needs of healthcare providers, as well as for advocacy purposes at the national level. He has used press releases, documentaries, patient voices, and courtesy calls to draw the attention of policy-makers and stakeholders to hepatitis-related issues confronting the hepatitis community in Ghana.
He has been at the forefront of advocating for the. 1) introduction of hepatitis B birth dose in Ghana. 2) inclusion of hepatitis B clinical monitoring and treatment in the national health insurance scheme. 3) integration of hepatitis B service in the existing HIV structures. 4) A formalised pre and post-test counselling system in health facilities. 5) A task shifting model to have nurse-led liver clinic sessions in all primary healthcare facilities, to mention a few. Date: December 13, 2022 HAG uses a culturally appropriate animation to educate people on the importance of hepatitis B birth dose The alliance formed an IEC content developers’ team to create materials on the birth dose of hepatitis B. The team created an animation to educate the public on how to prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B. The Coaltion for Global Hepatitis Elimination team offered financila support and technical input, including content assessment, and the final product was shared on various channels, including YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp. We had about 900 views on YouTube alone as of July 30th, 2022 (2 days after uploading online). We are optimistic that most Ghanaians will be aware of the importance of hepB birth dosage immunisation in the coming days through this strategy. Visit our resource section to access the full video.
Hepatitis elimination champions trained in University of Ghana In order to disseminate accurate hepatitis information to persons of reproductive age, especially women, the alliance trained 15 hepatitis elimination champions to serve as conduits for this essential awareness campaign. These champions were chosen from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Ghana. They were trained on the aetiology, mode of transmission, symptoms, and prevention of hepatitis B. Pic: Training of hepatitis elimination champions Hepatitis boot camp and awareness creation in Ghana The alliance created an information desk at the University of Ghana campus to provide students with hepatitis B information through one-on-one interactions and group presentations. Hepatitis information was put on walls and notice boards, and flyers with key facts on hepatitis B were distributed to students. The elimination champions trained were on site to address all of the students' hepatitis B concerns. Many students attended the programme, and the group presentation was held in a huge auditorium with over 150 students who are in their reproductive age in attendance. The sensitization centred on hepatitis B in general and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B in particular. Training of Midwives on prevention of vertical transmission of HBV in Ghana The Hepatitis Alliance of Ghana, in collaboration with the University of Ghana's Department of Public Health Nursing and the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, hosted a hybrid scientific seminar for midwives across the country. Overall, 519 midwives participated in the training (86 in person, 203 via Zoom, and 230 via Facebook live). Dr. Adwoa Agyei-Nkansah (Physician Consultant/Hepatologist, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital) facilitated the training on preventing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B. Dr. Adjei (Executive Director of HAG) also presented study findings on barriers to timely hepatitis B administration in Ghana, and a discussion was held on ways to address these barriers while waiting for a nationwide scale up of hepatitis B birth dose as part of the EPI. The president of the Nurses and Midwives Association, who chaired the seminar, urged all midwives across the country to be concerned about MTCT of hepatitis B and to ensure that every pregnant woman is screened, and vaccines are arranged at the facility level and administered to their newborns within 24 hours of birth. She offered the association's support for this course and promised to continuously remind the general membership to make sure no new baby is infected with hepatitis B from an infected mother. A documentary about barriers to delivery of the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine, as well as the challenges that hepatitis B poses at the individual, community, and structural levels were shown to participants. The alliance took the training opportunity to launch the hepB-Birth dose champion competition and welcome videos and pictures from the midwives for recognition of their effort and facilities in October. A number of media outlets also covered and televised the session. The testimonials of the participants were so refreshing. This training was sponsored by the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (USA), the Taskforce for Global Health (USA) and CDC (USA) Date: May 5, 2022
