TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of Hepatitis C viral infection in Ghana
T2 - A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol
AU - Fosu, Peter Kwabena
AU - Hoor, Gill ten
AU - Adjei, Charles Ampong
AU - Atibila, Fidelis
AU - Ruiter, Robert A.C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Fosu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2025/4
Y1 - 2025/4
N2 - Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a major public health concern for many countries. A recent survey report in Ghana revealed a national HCV prevalence rate of 4.6% in a population of 35 million but with notably higher regional variations ranging from 8.6 to 14.4%. Considering that Ghana is targeting micro-elimination of HCV as part of the STOP Hepatitis C project, it is prudent to estimate the current epidemiological burden of hepatitis C for evidence-based policymaking, public health research, and program direction. An initial search of the literature showed a previous review that spanned from 1995 to 2015. The gap of almost 10 years may not reflect the current burden of hepatitis C in Ghana, hence this review. A systematic literature search will be performed in the major electronic databases and search engines including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, and African Journals Online (AJOL). There will be a search for articles reporting on the prevalence of hepatitis C in Ghana from 2016 to 2024 in these databases. The protocol is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024592505).
AB - Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a major public health concern for many countries. A recent survey report in Ghana revealed a national HCV prevalence rate of 4.6% in a population of 35 million but with notably higher regional variations ranging from 8.6 to 14.4%. Considering that Ghana is targeting micro-elimination of HCV as part of the STOP Hepatitis C project, it is prudent to estimate the current epidemiological burden of hepatitis C for evidence-based policymaking, public health research, and program direction. An initial search of the literature showed a previous review that spanned from 1995 to 2015. The gap of almost 10 years may not reflect the current burden of hepatitis C in Ghana, hence this review. A systematic literature search will be performed in the major electronic databases and search engines including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, and African Journals Online (AJOL). There will be a search for articles reporting on the prevalence of hepatitis C in Ghana from 2016 to 2024 in these databases. The protocol is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024592505).
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105003079930
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0321483
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0321483
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105003079930
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 20
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 4 April
M1 - e0321483
ER -
