[b]SA’s Department of Health[/b] has been called upon by global organisations to vaccinate children against Hepatitis B at birth, and to set an example for the region by doing so, says a [s]News24[/s] report. Currently, children in SA receive their first Hepatitis B vaccine at six weeks of age when they attend their first post-natal check-up. [b]Doctors without Borders (MSF)[/b] and other organisations say SA should be setting an example by administering it at birth, and that the country’s patent laws should be revised so that more affordable Hepatitis B therapies become available. Local virologist Monique Andersson of [b]Stellenbosch University[/b] said: ‘We recommend giving it at birth to prevent mother-to-child transmission.’ She added that horizontal transmission (from one child to another) is thought of as being the dominant cause for the spread of the disease that is 50 times more infectious than HIV but that mother-to-child transmission also played a role.
[link url=http://www.health24.com/Medical/Digestive-health/News/World-Hepatitis-Day-Organisations-call-on-SA-government-to-better-prevent-hepatitis-B-infection-20140728]Full News24 report [/link]