Coalition against Hepatitis in People of African Origin (CHIPO)

NYC Chapter – Quarterly Meeting

Wednesday, April 27th

hepfree.nyc/CHIPO-NYC/chipo.org

Meeting Highlights

Announcements:

Presentation:

Prevention of hepatitis B virus transmission from mother to child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – View presentation slides attachment here

Dr. Peyton Thompson, pediatric infectious disease specialist, University of North Carolina, peyton_thompson@med.unc.edu

  • Overall prevalence of Hep B in Congo is 3.3%; 10x that of the US. Cases range across all age groups but there is a higher prevalence in adults than children. Vaccination and wealth found to be protective factors.
  • Hep B prevention strategies can target vertical transmission (mother to child) or horizontal transmission (within household). Barriers to prevention measures include lack of routine Hep B testing of pregnant women, failure to administer birth doses on infants, and no WHO recommendation for Hep B immune globulin (HBIg). Those who are dual infected with HIV may get treatment through HIV antiviral treatment programs.
  • AVERT-HBV study – prevent vertical transmission through a 2-pronged approach building on the framework of an existing HIV study. Primary objective is to determine feasibility of adding hep b testing and prevention to HIV platform. Study results show that this intervention approach (treating pregnant women and vaccinating infants) was both feasible and acceptable. The approach prevented all known cases of vertical transmission, but only half of infants were able to receive timely vaccination at birth.
  • Challenges with timely administration of vaccine at birth. Using study findings to advocate for universal birth dose vaccination.
  • Infants were not tested before being vaccinated, so cannot distinguish between vertical transmission and early horizontal transmission with certainty.

In attendance:

  1. Abou Diakhate, Viral Hepatitis Community Partner, diasa74@yahoo.com
  2. Amegnona (Thierry) Ekon, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, aekon@health.nyc.gov
  3. Beatrice Zovich, Hep B Foundation, beatrice.zovich@hepb.org
  4. BWAMBALE ARAFAT, Viral Hepatitis Community Partner,  bwambalearafat@yahoo.com
  5. Farma Pene, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, fpene@health.nyc.gov
  6. Fatima Omarufilo, Montefiore Medical Center, alabaran@montefiore.org
  7. ganiat sarumi, RN, Viral Hepatitis Community Partner, gsarumi@gmail.com
  8. Ibrahima Sankare, African Services committee, ibrahimas@africanservices.org
  9. Lauren Meyers, Syneos Health lauren.meyers@sh.vbivaccines.com
  10. Nadine Kela-Murphy, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, nkelamurphy@health.nyc.gov
  11. Monde Nyambe, Viral Hepatitis Community Partner, mnyambe@ipha.com
  12. Peyton Thompson, University of North Carolina peyton_thompson@med.unc.edu
  13. Shaili Gandhi, NYC Health Department, sgandhi1@health.nyc.gov
  14. Olorunseun O. Ogunwobi, Director, Hunter College Center for Cancer Health Disparities Research (CCHDR) | Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, CUNY – Hunter College, ogunwobi@genectr.hunter.cuny.edu
  15. Steven Stora, Community Health Action of Staten Island (CHASI), steven.stora@chasiny.org
  16. Umaima Khatun, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, ukhatun@health.nyc.gov

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Last Updated on November 7, 2022 by HepFree NYC

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