Health experts are warning government and stakeholders in the health sector to pay serious attention to Hepatitis B disease to prevent people from being carried away by the disease.
They say Hepatitis B kills more than HIV/AIDS which has received world attention to the neglect of the more dangerous disease.
Advocates for people who have tested positive for the disease are also calling on government to include the treatment of Hepatitis B on the National Health Insurance Scheme to serve children and women who they say are more vulnerable.
The HP B advocates argue that successive governments in Ghana have failed to pay special attention to this deadly disease like any other infectious disease.
They are also urging stakeholders like the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and the Ghana Medical Association to join hands to fight against the menace of the HP B in Ghana.
Hepatitis B is the leading infectious cause of death, claiming the lives of thousands of Ghanaians each year; hence the need to prevent it with urgency.
Speaking to Zaa News in Tamale ahead of World Hapatitis B Day scheduled for the 28th of July this year, the Regional Board Member for Africa of the World Hepatitis Alliance called for a policy on the disease to regulate the treatment and screening of infected people.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah who is also the President and Founder of Theobald Hepatitis B Foundationstressed the need for the disease to be targeted at the early stages, especially among children and women who he said are more vulnerable.
The foundation provided free screening for some senior high school students and the general public. Out of a total of 236 screened in the Tamale metropolis, 26 tested positive.
The situation Mr. Theobald said is alarming and need concerted effort by government and major stakeholders in the health sector to arrest the situation.
It is against this background that his outfit is collaborating with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs with a programme dubbed; ‘’United against HP B in Ghana’’ to push for policy awareness on the disease.
He said the treatment of HP B is the same as HIV and questioned why HIV/AIDS patients are provided with drugs to the neglect of Hepatitis B patients.
According to Mr. Ansah, testing is inaccessible in most regions in Ghana; adding that only three regions have testing facilities that are accessible to more than 50% of the population.
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