September 2023 Project Update
We send our best wishes to our faithful supporters and continue to be grateful for your interest in our program. The past 3 months since our last report have been busy, and we have a full schedule for the remainder of 2023. Our major activity was a trip to support our project in Kiribati, but we continue to provide online training and program planning to our colleagues in other countries such as Myanmar, Tonga, and Vanuatu. We see a glimmer of hope coming out of North Korea, where airline service is being re-established between Beijing and Pyongyang. This could be the first step in opening the doors to our return to our clinics in the DPRK. We are still awaiting a final decision from the Australian government on two major grants for which we applied.
In June, a large team of Hepatitis B Free volunteers and colleagues from New Zealand travelled to Kiribati. The main goals of the trip were to:
Evaluate, monitor, and support the hepatitis B program
Engage with and update key partners
Evaluate and treat patients on South Tarawa and the main hospital
Establish an outreach program in one of the outer islands
Provide training to health care workers from islands throughout the country with funding support from WHO
Provide endoscopy training and support at the primary hospital
Provide donations of medical equipment, including surgical supplies, endoscopy equipment, colonoscopes, EKG machines, and hepatitis test kits
During the trip the team met with leadership in the Ministry of Health, the Hepatitis Task Force, and the main hospital. One of our partners, ANZGITA, supported endoscopy at the hospital with training, systems improvement and assessed the suitability of the hospital as a training center. There was a two-day training workshop on hepatitis B attended by 26 healthcare workers of which 19 were medical assistants from the outer islands. This program was funded by WHO and facilitated by Dr Thomas Russell and supported by our team members. Two days were spent in clinics at the hospital where about 100 patients were seen and management plans were reviewed. Each patient received an ultrasound; their adherence to treatment was assessed; and counselling and education were provided. The remainder of the trip was spent traveling by boat to one of the outer islands, Abalang, to provide medical outreach. During this time community-wide screening with point of care hepatitis testing was accomplished. All patients with positive hepatitis tests were offered counselling, were reviewed by a medical officer, received an ultrasound and transient elastography (Fibroscan). Blood was collected from hepatitis-positive patients which will be sent to Australia for viral load testing by another one of our partners (VIDRL). Patients were given information booklets following group education and will have the opportunity to start hepatitis treatment with medications provided by Hepatitis B Free.
In the next month our team will travel back to Papua New Guinea and later in Tonga. These countries are slowly recovering from the COVID pandemic, and we are hopeful that our efforts to establish national programs will accelerate. None of this could be possible without your generous support.
Sincerely,
David
Chief Medical Officer
