Health News of Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Source: GNA

Businessman gives free hepatitis "B" vaccination

Techiman (B/A), May 12, GNA - A total of 150 persons were screened and vaccinated against hepatitis 'B' in an eight-day exercise in the Techiman municipality. The exercise was sponsored by Mr. Twum Barima, Director of Twum Barima Chemicals in the municipality, at a cost of 1,000 Ghana cedis. Madam Esther Boatemaa Agyepong, team leader of a group of nurses who undertook the exercise, said one million people worldwide were suffering from the disease.

She said about 350 people in the country were living with the disease without their knowledge and appealed to people in the municipality to take advantage of the vaccination to reduce the infection rate.

"Carriers transmit the disease to others through sex and the sharing of items such as blade, toothbrush and colleagues and family members of such people are more at risk than HIV/AIDS infection", she said. 12 May 09