Samuel Abebe Mekuria, Tesfaye Girma Legesse*, Alemayehu Worku Yalew
Background: Despite the implementation of effective vaccination programs, hepatitis B and C remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Understanding the epidemiology of the diseases is essential in developing programs to prevent and treat this global infection. Objective: To assess the prevalence of Hepatitis B and C virus among blood donors at National Blood Bank, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2015-2017 Method and Materials: An institution-based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on the prevalence of Hepatitis B and C among 909 blood donors at the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia in 2017 using a systematic randomized sampling technique. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 software and stated descriptively. Results: The current study identified that the prevalence of hepatitis B and C were 24(2.6%) and 7 (0.8%) among volunteer blood downers respectively. The prevalence of hepatitis B is identified to be 9(2.7%) and 15(2.6%) among females and males correspondingly. Whereas, the commonness of the hepatitis is found to be 3.7% among under 40 years old volunteer blood downers. Conclusion: Hepatitis B and C virus are public health important cases Recommendation: Public health education on hepatitis infection, pre blood donation screening, and improve donors’ knowledge about the diseases.
