Torimiro Judith Ndongo Embola, Duri Kerina, Goumkwa Nadège M, Atah Solange M, Ndzie Ondigui Juliette-Laure, Lobe Cindy, Bouyou Marielle, Ndeboko Bénédicte, Mahamat Moussa Ali, Police Camengo, Awoumou Patrick, Peyonga Puinta, Djivida Prisca V, Felix Assah, Nchinda Godwin W, Wandji Brigitte, Simo Rachel K, Agnès Moudourou Sylvie, Gutierrez Ana, Garcia Rosi, Fernandez Isabelle, Mah Evelyn, Rowland-Jones Sarah, Mbu Robinson
Molecular Biology Laboratory, Chantal BIYA International Reference Center for Research on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Management (CIRCB), Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Front Public Health. 2024 Apr 5;12:1283350. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1283350. eCollection 2024.
The WHO African Region had 81 million people with chronic hepatitis B in 2019, which remains a silent killer. Hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis delta virus (HDV), and HIV can be transmitted from the mother to child. If the HBV infection is acquired at infancy, it may lead to chronic hepatitis B in 90% of the cases. WHO reports that 6.4 million children under 5 years live with chronic hepatitis B infection worldwide. The prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HBV is therefore critical in the global elimination strategy of viral hepatitis as we take lessons from PMTCT of HIV programs in Africa. We sought to create a network of multidisciplinary professional and civil society volunteers with the vision to promote cost-effective, country-driven initiatives to prevent the MTCT of HBV in Africa. In 2018, the Mother-Infant Cohort Hepatitis B Network (MICHep B Network) with members from Cameroon, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom and later from Chad, Gabon, and Central African Republic was created. The long-term objectives of the network are to organize capacity-building and networking workshops, create awareness among pregnant women, their partners, and the community, promote the operational research on MTCT of HBV, and extend the network activities to other African countries. The Network organized in Cameroon, two "Knowledge, Attitude and Practice" (KAP) surveys, one in-depth interview of 45 health care workers which revealed a high acceptability of the hepatitis B vaccine by families, two in-person workshops in 2018 and 2019, and one virtual in 2021 with over 190 participants, as well as two workshops on grant writing, bioethics, and biostatistics of 30 postgraduate students. Two HBV seroprevalence studies in pregnant women were conducted in Cameroon and Zimbabwe, in which a prevalence of 5.8% and 2.7%, respectively, was reported. The results and recommendations from the MICHep B Network activities could be implemented in countries of the MICHep B Network and beyond, with the goal of providing free birth dose vaccine against hepatitis B in Africa.
2019年，世界卫生组织非洲区域有8100万人患有慢性乙型肝炎，它仍然是一个无声的杀手。乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）、丁型肝炎病毒（HDV）和艾滋病毒可通过母婴传播。如果婴儿期感染HBV，90%的病例可能会发展为慢性乙型肝炎。世界卫生组织报告称，全球有640万5岁以下儿童患有慢性乙型肝炎感染。因此，鉴于我们从非洲的艾滋病毒母婴传播预防项目中吸取了经验教训，HBV的母婴传播预防（PMTCT）在全球病毒性肝炎消除战略中至关重要。我们试图创建一个多学科专业人员和民间社会志愿者网络，其愿景是推动具有成本效益的、由国家主导的举措，以预防非洲的HBV母婴传播。2018年，母婴队列乙型肝炎网络（MICHep B网络）成立，其成员来自喀麦隆、津巴布韦和英国，后来又有来自乍得、加蓬和中非共和国的成员加入。该网络的长期目标是组织能力建设和网络研讨会，提高孕妇、其伴侣和社区的认识，推动关于HBV母婴传播的行动研究，并将网络活动扩展到其他非洲国家。该网络在喀麦隆组织了两次“知识、态度和实践”（KAP）调查，对45名医护人员进行了一次深入访谈，结果显示家庭对乙型肝炎疫苗的接受度很高，在2018年和2019年举办了两次面对面研讨会，2021年举办了一次虚拟研讨会，有190多名参与者，还为30名研究生举办了两次关于资助申请撰写、生物伦理学和生物统计学的研讨会。在喀麦隆和津巴布韦对孕妇进行了两项HBV血清流行率研究，报告的流行率分别为5.8%和2.7%。MICHep B网络活动的结果和建议可在MICHep B网络国家及其他国家实施，目标是在非洲提供免费的乙型肝炎出生剂量疫苗。
