Only one per cent of the estimated three million people living with chronic hepatitis B in Ghana have been diagnosed.
The figure falls far short of the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of diagnosing 90 per cent of people living with chronic viral hepatitis and placing 80 per cent of patients on treatment by 2030.
Currently, less than one per cent of people diagnosed with hepatitis B in Ghana are receiving treatment, a situation health authorities say, is fuelling preventable deaths and exposing many infected persons to severe liver complications.
The Programme Manager of the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr John Gerald Adiiboka, disclosed this at the commemoration of World Hepatitis Day in Accra yesterday.
On the theme, “Hepatitis: Let’s break it down,” this year’s observance calls on countries to remove the barriers preventing people from accessing life-saving hepatitis prevention, testing and treatment services.
Presenting the burden of viral hepatitis in Ghana, Dr Adiiboka said hepatitis B-related deaths increased from 15,443 in 2024 to about 16,000 in 2025.
He said about 500,000 people were also living with hepatitis C, with deaths rising from about 2,040 in 2024 to approximately 2,086 in 2025.
“Most people living with viral hepatitis in Ghana do not know they have the disease because it is largely asymptomatic. Many only report to the hospital when the liver has already been severely damaged,” he said.
Dr Adiiboka said the northern parts of the country continued to bear the greatest burden of viral hepatitis, with the Savannah, Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions recording some of the highest prevalence rates.
He explained that mother-to-child transmission accounted for about 95 per cent of hepatitis B infections in Ghana, making interventions targeting newborns critical to breaking the chain of transmission.
Nonetheless, the programme manager said Ghana was making significant progress in preventing new infections, noting that coverage of the third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine among infants had reached about 95 per cent, exceeding the WHO target of 90 per cent.
He said plans were far advanced to roll out a nationwide hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination programme to protect newborns immediately after birth, describing it as one of the most cost-effective interventions to prevent future infections and liver cancer.
According to him, increased investment in testing, treatment and surveillance, the implementation of a national hepatitis control policy, and sustained political commitment would enable Ghana to achieve the WHO hepatitis elimination targets by 2030.
The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, in a speech read on his behalf, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat.
He said government would continue to strengthen vaccination to reduce mother-to-child transmission, expand equitable access to screening and diagnosis, improve laboratory and surveillance systems, decentralise hepatitis services and strengthen referral pathways.
Charging members of the newly constituted Technical Working Group to support the implementation of a coordinated national viral hepatitis elimination plan, to work hard to reduce prevalence rate in the country, Mr Akandoh urged the public to know their hepatitis status by getting tested and vaccinated where eligible.
“Our goal is a Ghana where no child acquires hepatitis at birth, no adult develops avoidable liver disease because of late diagnosis, and no family loses a loved one because essential prevention or treatment was beyond reach,” he said.
World Hepatitis Day is observed annually on July 28 to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that can lead to chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
There are five main types of viral hepatitis—A, B, C, D and E—with hepatitis B and C accounting for the majority of chronic infections.
Common symptoms include fatigue, fever, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, dark urine, pale stools, joint pain and jaundice, although many infected persons may not develop symptoms until the disease has advanced.
Viral hepatitis is commonly transmitted through contact with infected blood or other bodily fluids but safe and effective vaccines are available to prevent hepatitis A and B.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH & RASHEEDA AFOAKWAH
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