Background

• In November 2019 , the EDVRU team set out to conduct a demonstration project on health care worker protection against the hepatitis B virus in Kalulushi district of Zambia.
• Hepatitis B is a viral infections that survives and replicates in the liver. In 2015, WHO estimated that globally, 257 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B.
• In Zambia, this number is not well defined. However, in 2016, it was estimated that 5.4% of the general adult population was infected with this prevalence increasing
  to 12.3% in the HIV infected population.
• Certain populations including health care workers are at high risk of infection as it is an occupational hazard. While WHO recommends that all health care
  workers be vaccinated against HBV, many countries including Zambia have not implemented this policy.
• This study is the first of its kind in Zambia, and through this work, new laboratory assays have been established at CIDRZ thereby building capacity
  in the research team and opening doors for further hepatitis B work.