The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has continued its assessment of Ghana’s response to viral hepatitis with engagements at selected health facilities in the Greater Accra Region.
The engagements formed part of a three-day working visit by the Head of Infectious Diseases at Africa CDC, Dr Serge Batcho, to assess progress in Ghana’s viral hepatitis response, understand challenges at the service-delivery level and identify opportunities to strengthen capacity, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
On the second day of the visit, the team visited the 37 Military Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Adabraka Polyclinic and Kaneshie Polyclinic. Dr Batcho was accompanied by the Programme Manager for the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Gerald Adiiboka, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Health Service, Mr Jacob Acquah-Andoh, and officials from the Health Promotion Division.
At the 37 Military Hospital, the team interacted with Naval Captain Harriet Manu, Head of Public Health, and her team on the facility’s experience in screening and managing viral hepatitis, as well as opportunities to strengthen collaboration with the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme, particularly through the integration of hepatitis services into existing health programmes.
Naval Captain Manu noted that the structured nature of the military health system, including the deployment and transfer arrangements of personnel, provides an opportunity to strengthen continuity of care and effective follow-up of patients with hepatitis.
The need to strengthen capacity across the health system also emerged as a key issue during the facility engagements. Discussions highlighted the importance of continuous and periodic capacity building for health workers to improve their knowledge and skills in hepatitis prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, counselling and patient follow-up. Participants noted that adequately trained health workers would be better positioned to provide accurate information to patients, address misconceptions and encourage those who test positive to seek and remain in care.
Dr Gerald Adiiboka indicated that efforts were ongoing to expand access to hepatitis C treatment, including the decentralisation of treatment services and integration of hepatitis care into existing health facilities. He stressed the importance of building the capacity of health workers to manage patients at different levels of the health system as services are expanded.
The need to integrate hepatitis services into existing health programmes, particularly HIV services, was also reiterated across the engagements. Participants noted that using established care structures could make hepatitis services more accessible, while helping to reduce the stigma that may be associated with seeking care for the disease.
Diagnostic capacity was another major issue raised during the assessment. At the 37 Military Hospital, the need to improve access to viral load testing for hepatitis B was highlighted, with participants noting that appropriate and timely diagnostic services are critical to determining patient management and ensuring effective follow-up.
At the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, the team met the Head of the Antiretroviral Therapy Unit, Dr Emmanuel Addipa-Adapoe, and other members of the hospital management before touring the Directly Observed Treatment unit and the Antiretroviral unit.
Dr Addipa-Adapoe and the hospital management highlighted the facility’s role as a referral centre and its capacity to manage patients requiring specialised care. They noted that hepatitis services were already being linked with existing HIV services, providing an opportunity to further integrate the management of patients with hepatitis into established care structures.
He, however, highlighted challenges with laboratory services, particularly the turnaround time for viral load testing. It was noted that samples are currently sent to a central laboratory, which can sometimes delay the receipt of results. The team therefore stressed the need to strengthen laboratory capacity to support timely diagnosis, monitoring and management of patients.
Dr. Addipa also emphasised the need to anticipate increased demand for services as hepatitis programmes are expanded and decentralised, particularly at referral facilities receiving patients from peripheral health facilities.
The assessment continued at Adabraka Polyclinic and Kaneshie Polyclinic, where the team engaged health workers on the provision of hepatitis-related services, capacity-building needs and opportunities to strengthen screening, referral and linkage to care.
The three-day assessment concluded with an engagement at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), where the team interacted with heads of key departments to assess progress, challenges and opportunities for strengthening the national response to viral hepatitis.
Dr Amoako Duah, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Head of the Department of Internal Medicine commended the Africa CDC for the initiative, noting that the facility continues to attend to patients with Hepatitis B and C, particularly in its role as a referral Centre.
He explained that sustaining treatment and follow-up remains a challenge, with some patients unable to complete investigations and treatment due to the cost of laboratory services and medications, which are not covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Dr. Duah noted that most cases are identified through public screening activities and blood donation processes. He called for greater support towards the provision of test kits and reducing the cost of investigations and treatment. He also advocated increased public education on hepatitis testing and prevention, as well as stronger collaboration between Africa CDC and the Government of Ghana to improve access to affordable medicines.
He further called for consideration of Hepatitis B screening among students before they enter school and expressed optimism that the introduction of hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine would contribute significantly to prevention efforts.
In his remarks, Dr Batcho stressed the importance of learning from existing programmes and facility-level experiences while identifying practical approaches that can be sustained within Ghana’s health system.
He explained that the organisation supports health interventions across 55 African countries, with priority given to countries based on disease burden and identified needs. He said Ghana was selected as one of the priority countries for the assessment and expressed satisfaction with the engagements at the various facilities.
Dr Batcho noted that the discussions had provided valuable information on existing interventions, gaps and challenges and would help Africa CDC identify areas where additional support could contribute to strengthening Ghana’s response to Hepatitis B and C.
The three-day assessment provided a platform for stakeholders to identify gaps, share experiences and highlight practical measures for improving hepatitis prevention, testing, treatment and follow-up. The engagements are expected to inform ongoing efforts by the Ghana Health Service and Africa CDC to strengthen comprehensive, accessible and sustainable hepatitis services in Ghana.