Nkawkaw, Sept. 25, GNA - The Okyeame Kwame Foundation (OKF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), on Thursday organised Hepatitis B educational campaign and free screening of the disease for more than 200 people at Nkawkaw. The foundation is made up of biomedical scientists, medical doctors and other social workers.

Mr Evans Owusu Ansah, Director of OKF said the screening exercise was aimed at creating public awareness about the disease. He said Hepatitis B was a communicable inflammatory disease of the liver caused by the Hepatitis B virus, which affects morbidity and mortality and found in body fluids of infected persons. Mr Ansah noted that transmission of the disease could occur in blood transfusion, saliva, sexual intercourse and mother to child transmission, which tend to reduce the liver's ability to perform life preserving functions including filtering harmful infectious agents from the blood. He said the World Health Organisation ranked Hepatitis B as the ninth leading cause of death in the world, while the Ghana Health Service estimated the disease prevalence as one in every six individuals, representing 40 per cent of the population. The founder of the Foundation, Okyeame Kwame, a Musician, said after a national launch of the exercise in October, it would be extended to the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.

He appealed for local and foreign sponsorship to extend the programme to other parts of the country. Okyeame Kwame appealed to the public to dial MTN shot code 1994, to be able to contribute GH¢ 30 to the foundation to raise enough funds for its operations. He said the Foundation planned to establish a Hepatitis B centre in the country to undertake screening, diagnosing and treatment of the disease. He advised the general public to go for Hepatitis B test at the health facilities and undertake vaccination to protect themselves from being infected with the disease.