Uptake of Hepatitis B Treatment Eligibility Tests Among Hepatitis B Patients; The Case of Yumbe Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda.

BackgroundHepatitis B infection remains a major public health challenge globally.World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 257 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B infection in 2019 with 1.5 million new infections yearly [1].WHO also estimated 820,000 deaths to have resulted from hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 2019 with majority being caused by cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [1,2].Sub -Saharan African (SSA) nations carry a significant portion of hepatitis B virus (HBV) burden on the African continent with a sero-prevalence of 6.1% [3,4].Majority of those infected remain undiagnosed, untreated and poorly managed [5] due to limited access to accurate, timely and appropriate diagnostic services, and other health system associated factors.Uganda continues to be highly endemic with HBV, with transmission occurring both in childhood and adulthood with varying national and regional prevalence rates.Results from the 2005 national sero-survey showed a HBsAg prevalence rate of 10.3% among adults [6] while it stood at 4.3% in the 2016 Uganda Populationbased HIV Impact Assessment (UPHIA) survey [7].From the same survey, varying regional HBV prevalence rates were reported with the highest being in Northern region; mid North had at 4.6%, North East had 4.4% while 3.8% was