Publication

Abstract : Background Viral hepatitis caused an estimated 1.34 million deaths in 2015 worldwide [1]. These deaths were as many as those caused by tuberculosis and higher than those caused by HIV [2]. Most (720,000) hepatitis related deaths were due to liver cirrhosis, followed by primary liver cancer i.e. hepatocellular carcinoma (470,000 deaths) [3]. Globally, an estimated 257 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B infection (HBV) in 2015, and the global prevalence of HBV infection in the general population was 3.5% [4]. However, the prevalence of chronic HBV infection is much higher among people born before the HBV vaccine became available [5]. Despite the introduction of universal HBV vaccination and effective antiviral therapy, the estimated overall seroprevalence of HBV surface antigen remains high in Africa at 6.1% [6] and the Western Pacific regions (6.2%) [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), HBV infection affects more than 5% of the local population in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 8% in West Africa and reaching up to 15% in some areas [7]. In East African countries, only a few studies have been conducted on the epidemiology of viral hepatitis, and most of these studies focused on specific subpopulations, e.g. those living with HIV [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Data for the general populations are mostly unavailable. In Rwanda, HBV prevalence data is only available among specific population subgroups. One study among 13,121 pregnant women in 30 sentinel sites found a prevalence of HBsAg of 3.7% [8]. A recent study of 117,258 people living with HIV (PLHIV) found a prevalence of HBsAg of 4.3% [10]. However, there are limited data on the epidemiology of HBV in the general population. In order to better understand the seroprevalence of HBV in the general population of the country, the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) and its partners conducted several HBV screening campaigns to inform HBV prevention and treatment programming in Rwanda. This article analyzed the prevalence and risk factors of HBsAg seropositivity among people who participated in a national hepatitis screening campaign in Rwanda.