Abstract:
Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) occurs globally and is of a great public health importance. According to World Health Organization (WHO),“more than two (2) billion people worldwide have been infected with Hepatitis-B virus and about 350 million people remain chronically infected”. Even though Ghana belongs to one of the areas where HBV is highly endemic not much study detailing the burden of the disease among the youth has been conducted.
Objectives: This work was intended to determine the burden of HBV infection and its associated risk factors among students in the Krachi Senior High school in the Krachi West district of the Volta region.
Methods: Using the 2017 student register as sample frame, 182 students were randomly selected for this cross-sectional sero prevalent survey. Chi-square test and Student t- test were used to compare categorical and continuous variables. Those categorical variables with p<0.200 were analyzed in a final regression model.
Result: The sero- prevalence of HBV among the 182 study participants was found to be 14.3%. More females than males 14/26 (53.8%) tested positive for the HBsAg. The highest prevalence was recorded in 18-20 age groups 14/87(16.09%). Place of barbering was found to be statistically significant with HBV (aOR: 0.48 95%CI.0.28-0.84) (p=0.01).Also sharing of same spoon/cutlery among students also significantly influences HBV infection among students (aOR: 0.46, 95%CI.0.26-0.8) (P=0.01)
Conclusion: Hepatitis B virus infection is significantly high among students attending Krachi West Senior High School. Place of barbering and sharing of cutlery among students are factors significantly associated with the virus infection
