Seroconversion of Hepatitis B Vaccine in Young Children in the Kassena Nankana District of Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection is an important public health problem that requires high priority efforts towards prevention and control. Active immunization is the single most important and effective preventive measure against HBV infection. As a protective measure, Ghana introduced the mass immunization program against hepatitis B infection in children in 2002 in her Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). This study evaluated seroconversion (the point in time when the amount of antibody in the blood becomes detectable) and seroprotection (the point in time when the amount of antibody in the blood is enough to confer protection from the antigen that induced it production) status of children under this mass immunization program and measured their antibody levels five years after immunization.