World Hepatitis Day 2023 in Africa

Live Well Initiative, Nigeria 

Live Well Initiative engaged their community in Makoko, Lagos on WHD through outreach educating breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women, and older women on the transmission, prevention and impact of hepatitis.    

 The Initiative also engaged in free hepatitis screening for the members of the community present.  

Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) 

On WHD, Africa CDC raised awareness about viral hepatitis across social media using WHD visuals. The Director General gave a speech highlighting their activities and support with stakeholders to eliminate hepatitis in Africa. They made a blog post educating people about the virus mentioning this year’s WHD theme.  

Centre for Counselling, Advocacy and Social Inclusion, Nigeria 

Centre for Counselling, Advocacy and Social Inclusion conducted a hepatitis awareness campaign to Almajiri schools in Taraba State Nigeria. They educated around 73 participants in the schools visited.  

Rise Against Hepatitis Global Initiative, Nigeria  

For WHD this year, Rise Against Hepatitis Global Initiative educated students and teachers about hepatitis at Owerri Girls Secondary School in Owerri. There were 315 female students, and 15 teachers present at this activity. Flyers were given out to students and flipcharts on hepatitis education were donated to the school.  

Friends of Humanity, South Sudan  

In partnership with the Ministry of health, WHO and Africa Hepatitis Coalition, Friends of Humanity commemorated WHD in Juba with the following activities:  

•  Radio talk show at Eye radio and Miraya FM 
• Public lecture on viral hepatitis at the University of Juba  
• Hepatitis Can’t Wait football match between Trinity Energy LTD and University of Juba 
• Health awareness discussion on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STIs  
• Testing for hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis  

Okyeame Kwame, Musician, Ghana  

A hepatitis B advocate and musician, Okyeame, celebrated WHD by educating his community about hepatitis at the Madina market in Ghana. There was free screening and vaccination for hepatitis B at the yard. At the event, 480 people were screened with 8% of people testing positive for the virus. 

 The US Ambassador to Ghana, Ambassador Virginia Palmer, also recognised Okyeame’s work to fight hepatitis B in Ghana. Okyeame was as at the US embassy with members of the hepatitis community in Ghana. 

Young Medical Laboratory Scientists, Delta State, Nigeria 

The Young Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria in Delta State organised a free hepatitis B and C screening for police officers and the public. They conducted the screening test for 29 participants and had one positive result for hepatitis B.  

 They also raised awareness within their community on hepatitis through radio segments and interviews on FM Kpoko 100.5 FM, Warri.  

ADILO Koutiala, Mali 

Adilo Koutiala NGO educated their community on hepatitis testing, prevention, and treatment services. 

Lafia Nassarawa State, Nigeria  

The hepatitis community in Lafia organised a rally to create awareness about hepatitis in Nigeria. 

Knowhep Foundation 

On WHD, Knowhep Foundation screened and vaccinated 100 health care workers in collaboration with Kono medical outreach team, at Koidu town in the Eastern province of Sierra Leone. They also did free screening for 33 high school students and vaccinated 33 people at CitiGlobe Pharmacy. 

Earlier this year, the Foundation screened 433 students for hepatitis B and vaccinated 412 health care students in collaboration with the college of medicine and allied health sciences students’ representative council. 

Ministry of Health & Population, Egypt 

The Ministry of Health & Population, Egypt ran a WHD event in collaboration with Africa CDC. The event focused on hepatitis elimination in Africa and was attended by delegates of Chad, Ghana and South Sudan 

Women and Children Health Empowerment Foundation (WACHEF), Taraba, Nigeria 

For WHD, WACHEF staged a public lecture on hepatitis preventative awareness at Muwanshat College of Health and Technology in Taraba. They also provided free testing and counselling services for hepatitis B and C, using the WHD theme, “We Are Not Waiting”. The event witnessed a turn up of participants as over 100 people were in attendance. 

Care For Social Welfare International (CASWI), Calabar, Nigeria

To commemorate WHD, CASWI conducted free hepatitis B screenings in Calabar. At the event, 327 people and 318 non-reactive people received their first hepatitis B vaccine shot, making sure that reactive people were counseled and referred to a secondary healthcare facility by the team of medical doctors present at the event.  

In addition to the screenings, 2,000 posters were distributed and posted across the streets of Calabar Municipal and Calabar South LGA, whilst radio jingles aired across the state and a 2km hepatitis awareness road walk was conducted in the city of Calabar.