Dr Diyase Agness Chola is a Senior Medical Officer based at Luangwa District Hospital. At the time of her enrolment in the Accelerate Hepatitis Programme, Dr Chola did not know much about hepatitis. With time, her understanding improved and her passion for hepatitis and infectious disease, in general, grew. She began to realize how much…
In Zambia, due to low awareness and training of health workers, hepatitis B (HBV) was viewed as a sexually transmitted infection, resulting in social stigma for those living with it. However, most people contract HBV at birth or during early childhood through contact with family members. The ACCELERATE programme in Zambia aimed to dispel this…
Dr Jerome Liwakala Siyambu was a medical officer at Maina Soko, a referral hospital in Lusaka within the Zambian Defense Force (ZDF). ZDF serves about 20,000 active members of the military and another 100,000 dependents in Zambia. As a medical officer, Dr Siyambu cared for many patients with hepatitis B; however, he had never received…
HBV and HIV share common transmission routes as well as a common treatment method: an antiviral medication called tenofovir. As the tenofovir drug regimen is effective for both treating HBV and preventing and treating HIV, the hepatitis-HIV integrated model can create a unique opportunity for people to access HBV and HIV services at the same…
Minh Quang is a 53-year-old drug user from Hanoi. Last year, he learned of a local community-based organisation (CBO), “Lien Minh Ve Nha,” which offers support group sessions and provides free HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), and hepatitis (HCV) testing and counselling condoms and clean syringes to people who inject drugs and other key populations at…