Fighting Hepatitis B: Over GH¢25000 needed to procure testing machine, vaccines and others - NGO

The fight against Hepatitis B infection continues as the Mumbies foundation is urging the general public to support in dealing with the viral disease.

As a Non-Governmental Organisation, Mumbies Foundation has for some time now contributed immensely to the fight against the deadly disease with the support of the Effutu lawmaker, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin.

Financial Support

However, the quest to help deal with the disease comes with many challenges the major one being financial strength.

It is in line with this that the Foundation is seeking financial assistance to raise Ghc25,000.00 to help deliver on its mandate of ensuring that hepatitis B infection is minimised if not completely eradicated in the coming years.

The money is expected to be used for the purchase of a hepatitis B viral load testing machine, test kits and vaccines as well as to be able to offer free services to people.

The financial support is also targeted to save over 200 newborn babies from liver cancer and mother-to-child infections, which seems to be a major challenge in dealing with the disease.

Project Manager for Mumbies Foundation, Israel Adorbley is, however, urging all cooperate bodies, companies as well as other bodies to come on board to raise the needed funds needed for the operations of the NGO in delivering on its mandate.

Genesis of Mumbies Foundation

This project became necessary because, in 2019, ISRAEL ADORBLEY, a professional nurse at a rural clinic was moved by the plight of a pregnant woman in a rural community who visited the facility for ANC services. She tested positive for Hepatitis B and was unaware of her disease hence was referred to an urban hospital for management after being educated on Hepatitis B and the measures to take to prevent her baby from contracting the disease. But a few months down the lane, when met with her newborn, sadly said she was asked to purchase Hepatitis B Immune Globulin to vaccinate her newborn but couldn’t afford the COST of the immunoglobulin to vaccinate her newborn.

This sad incident prompted Him to seek support from the Member of Parliament of Effutu Constituency, Hon Alexander Afenyo Markin who immediately agreed to provide any needed support that will help to prevent people from becoming a victim of the disease.

Survey

Hon Alex Afenyo, the Effutu lawmaker then funded a research and sensitisation program to determine the prevalence of the disease in the Municipality. 2,106 people were tested for HBsAg across Eight (8) rural communities. Of the number, 178 representing 8.4% tested positive. These people included pregnant women, school children, the aged and the youth forming the bulk percentage with 78% testing positive. Strangely, the majority of those who tested positive were unaware of their status and were ignorant about Hepatitis B.

This outcome was quite shocking because with this figure if care is not taken a lot more people in the catchment area will be infected with the virus especially the newborns of the infected pregnant women are highly at risk.
It is upon this background this foundation was established to help minimize Hepatitis B spread if not eradicate the disease.
Our main concern has been that mother-to-child transmission of Hepatitis B is the most common means of disease spread in endemic areas such as our place of focus for this project.

Cost of Treatment

Access to the vaccine which helps prevent mother-to-child transmission which is Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG) and Hepatitis B monovalent vaccine is a huge challenge and costly.

Marginalized pregnant women in rural communities are not able to afford these vaccines hence exposing these innocent newborns to the risk of contracting the disease at birth. And so we wish to draw the attention of the Government, International communities, and philanthropists to deem it important and as a matter of urgency come to the aid of our cause to curb the spread of Hepatitis B in the Effutu municipality and beyond and ultimately contribute to WHO elimination target of viral Hepatitis by 2030
We believe assisting these vulnerable pregnant women to access these vaccines for their newborns to save these newborns from contracting the disease is a laudable cause to saving the future which is the motto of the foundation. Ghana is classified as one of the endemic regions of this silent worldwide pandemic with an estimated 3-4.5 million people chronically infected with the disease.

The causes of contracting the virus in Ghana are not different from that of the outside world such as Unprotected sex with infected people, Mother to child transmission during delivery, and contact with contaminated blood and other bodily fluids.
It is also a major contributory factor to the primary cause of liver cancer and other liver complications.

Going Forward

Mumbies Foundation since then has screened many pregnant women and many others within the Effutu municipality with the support of the Member of Parliament, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

There have also been able to intensify public education for the people on the disease which seems not to be known to them as a dangerous one and needs regular attention.

The Winneba Central prison was not left out as officers and inmates have been screened after the foundation donated food items and toiletries to them with the support of the MP.

Over 400 residents of Winneba were screened on 28th July 2022 during the World Hepatitis B Day celebration held globally.

Dr. Akwasi Bota, Medical Superintendent of the Effutu Municipal Hospital has emphasised the need to intensify awareness of the disease because it is more dangerous than even HIV and the other known diseases we may think of.

He was, however, worried that not much is been done about the disease and appealed to the government and other stakeholders to take a serious look at hepatitis B.

Hon. Afenyo-Markin, the MP for the area and deputy majority leader last week made a statement on the disease in Parliament and even called for its prioritisation.

He also called for discussions to enrol hepatitis B on the national health insurance scheme to enable the needy to have easy access to testing and vaccines for free as done for HIV/AIDs patients.

Office Apartment

To work efficiently, Mumbies Foundation has acquired an office complex at Essuekyir-Winneba to attend to all cases that may be reported to them.

The office complex was officially opened for operations on Friday, February 17, 2023, with the people in Effutu and beyond urged to patronise their services.

Appreciation

Mr. Israel Adorbley commended Hon. Afenyo-Markin for his continuous support and commitment to the fight against the disease since 2019.

Mr. Adorbley was optimistic the MP who is also the Patron of the NGO would help facilitate the course to ensure it raises the needed amount to help in tackling the disease.