After successfully starting the campaign in 2009 which has seen thousands of Ghanaians receive free testing and vaccination, the rapper says the campaign now wants to support the poor who have been infected.
Speaking in an interview on Voice of America (VOA), Okyeame Kwame revealed that he became cautious of the dangers and neglect of Hepatitis B in Ghana when he constantly fell ill in 2009.
A visit to the hospital brought to bear the expensive cost of getting tested for Hepatitis B especially when Ghana’s medical budgetary support is for Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS.
The award-winning rapper said he was alarmed by the prevalence rate of Hepatitis B in Ghana, which is 15% of the population. He was pushed to start the campaign to touch the lives of a 1000 people. But so far, 8000 people have been screened and many vaccinated since he started.
“We started with education and then we started giving free screening and then we saw that 85% of the people who test negative go back to the risk zone so we decided to vaccinate everybody who tested negative,” he said.
The ‘Woso’ hit rapper said the campaign is now “moving into the area of buying medication for poor women who are Hepatitis B positive because,” they can’t afford the medication, which is about $200.
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