The global themes for the commemoration of WHD this year were “Bringing hepatitis care closer to you” and “Hepatitis can’t wait”, emphasizing the need for more accessible and accelerated hepatitis testing and care. Thus, this year, the HEPMAL project stepped outside the confines of the University of Ghana campus to take hepatitis testing and care to the community.

The selected community was Maamobi, a largely Muslim community in the Ayawaso East Municipal District of the Greater Accra Region. The event was organized in conjunction with the Maamobi General Hospital under the Ghana Health Service and took place on 27th of July 2022 on the premises of the Maamobi General Hospital.

Preparations begun about two months to the set date. Health volunteers from the community were educated on Hepatitis some weeks ahead, and were charged to send word round to advertise the screening programme. There were also community announcements with vehicles mounted with PA systems a few days to the event, and on the morning of the event day. In response, members of the community showed up in their numbers on the day of the screening.

The medical outreach comprised of free screening for Hepatitis B and C, haemoglobin and malaria, free Hepatitis B vaccination, as well as counselling and offer of care for those who tested positive, as was done in the previous year’s exercise. Various stations were set up; registration, consenting, sampling points, testing station, results and vaccination. These were effortlessly managed by collaborative work between the HEPMAL team and volunteers from the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), together with healthcare professionals from the host Hospital, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the University of Ghana Hospital. The exercise run smoothly from about 9:30am to about 4:00pm.

Out of a total of 332 individuals screened for Hepatitis B, 256 persons without detectable protective antibodies received the first dose of the vaccine, while 17 persons who had some antibodies and were given booster shots. The HEPMAL screening team will contact the 256 persons who have received their first shot by telephone to remind them of their second shots after a month and also for the final shot after 6 months, to reduce the immunisation dropout rate. A total of 22 individuals tested positive for Hepatitis B surface antigen and were counselled and referred for further assessment and management. One individual tested positive for Hepatitis C out of 400 individuals screened.

Currently, Maamobi Hospital does not have a liver clinic, but the Korle Bu and University of Ghana Hospitals run weekly liver clinics. As part of the outreach exercise this year, the HEPMAL team is in the process of facilitating the establishment of a liver clinic at the Maamobi Hospital. This is expected to run at least once a month with experienced practitioners from the Korle Bu Hospital working alongside a medical team from the Maamobi Hospital, with the ultimate aim of building a strong gastroenterology team at the Maamobi Hospital to fully take over running a liver clinic in the next few months.

On the 29th of July 2022, the HEPMAL screening team again set up a similar exercise at the grounds of the NMIMR to screen staff of the Institute as well as the general public. Out of 116 persons screened, 94 received the first dose of the vaccine and 5 were found to be positive for the Hepatitis B surface antigen. They were referred to the Liver Clinic of the University Hospital for further management.

In all, the HEPMAL Hepatitis team, working with their partners, screened a total of 448 persons for hepatitis B and C and found 27 persons with active HBV infections and a single person with HCV infection. Seventeen persons previously vaccinated but with reduced antibody titres received booster shots, while 350 persons without detectable surface antibodies received their first of three HBV vaccine shots. The outreach was funded by a seed amount from the EDCTP2-funded HEPMAL project and donations in cash or kind obtained through a fundraising drive by the HEPMAL project team. Companies and agencies that supported this year’s outreach include the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit Three (NAMRU-3) Ghana Detachment, Crescent Chemist Ltd., the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), East Cantonments Pharmacy Ltd., Special Ice Company Ltd. and the Coca Cola Bottling Company of Ghana Ltd. We are grateful to all these partners for their support for this year’s World Hepatitis Day activities organized by the HEPMAL project.