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Uganda procured 500,000 doses of hepatitis B vaccines to be administered to children at birth and adults to combat and contain new infections. The hepatitis B vaccines will be delivered to public health facilities across the East African country
Uganda procured 500,000 doses of hepatitis B vaccines to be administered to children at birth and adults to combat and contain new infections. The hepatitis B vaccines will be delivered to public health facilities across the East African country to reduce the incidence of the virus, stated the Uganda National Medical Stores (NMS).
Preparations are already underway for onward distribution to health facilities across the country, said the NMS, a government agency mandated to procure, store, and distribute medicines and medical supplies to government-owned health facilities in Uganda. Sheilla Nduhukire, principal public relations officer at the NMS, said there has been a prolonged shortage of hepatitis B vaccines that affected vaccination campaigns.
Hepatitis B vaccines have been received and restocked at the NMS following a prolonged global shortage as communicated by the manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India. In 2022, an estimated 1,250 Ugandans died of the disease, and about 6 percent of Uganda’s population, or 2.7 million people, remain chronically infected, according to the World Health Organization.
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The Ugandan Ministry of Health, with technical support from the WHO, has developed a strategy to control hepatitis B, including public awareness, testing, and treatment nationwide. Hepatitis B can cause a chronic infection and puts people at high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer. It can spread through contact with blood and other body fluids of a person who is infected.
