Prevalence Of Hepatitis B Virus Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic At Primary Health Centre

Nearly 300 million people worldwide live with Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), resulting in estimated 820,000 preventable deaths in 2019. The virus is most commonly spread from mother to child during birth and through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. Infection in infancy and early childhood leads to chronic hepatitis in about 95% of cases and leading cause of death globally.

Only less than 2% are diagnosed and paltry 0.1% are on treatment in Africa. It is the most common cause of liver cancer and fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in Nigeria.HBV prevalence in pregnant women is 14.1% in a review focused on women attending antenatal care in health facilities in Nigeria. Consequently, most health facilities especially in rural communities in Nigeria often do not screen pregnant women and many fails to give significant attention to HBsAg during antenatal clinic.

This research work is a cross-sectional, descriptive study, carried out in Kishi to determine the “prevalence of HBV among pregnant women attending ANC at Agede PHC Kishi Oyo State”, data presented using Frequency tables, simple percentage counts and charts with the aim to identify practices associated with the spread, determine the significance and evaluate perceptions of pregnant women towards HBsAg as well assess their knowledge on availability of hepatitis B vaccine birth dose for the new born.

The study concluded that; Prevalence of HBV among pregnant women attending ANC is lower, awareness on importance of HBsAg screening was significant while information on the importance of hepatitis B vaccination for women of reproductive age is observed to be inadequate.