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A tour of options to scale-up HBV testing to meet elimination goals in the African region

Significant progress has been made across sub-Saharan Africa to improve routine hepatitis B infant vaccination programs with about 40% of countries having hepatitis B vaccination coverage for infants over 90%. Nonetheless, over 70 million people are currently living with hepatitis B and over 70,000 people died of hepatitis B-related causes in 2019. These patients need access to hepatitis B testing, treatment, and care. There are limited examples in sub-Sahara Africa of large-scale hepatitis B testing and treatment programs. The fourth webinar in the Hep Test series will explore effective models of HBV testing and treatment programs in 3 different settings:

1) National public health approach (Uganda)- presented by Professor Ponsiano Ocama, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

2) District hospital in rural setting (Sierra Leone)- presented by Partners in Health

3) University/referral hospital in urban setting (Ethiopia)- presented by Dr. Hanna Aberra, St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Each presentation will break down the testing program including the HBV testing policies and target populations, HBV testing points into the health system, HBV testing modalities (i.e. point-of-care or laboratory-based testing for HBsAg, HBeAg, etc), reporting and linkage systems, HBV evaluation and treatment, care cascade challenges, and operational research opportunities.

Apr 15, 2021 09:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)