{"doi":"10.1111/jvh.14051","title":"Hepatitis B Care and Treatment in Zanzibar, Tanzania: A Demonstration Project Following 2015 <scp>WHO</scp> Treatment Guidelines, 2017–2021","abstract":"Zanzibar, a low-resource semiautonomous region of Tanzania, has an estimated prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections of 3.6%. To assess the feasibility of care and treatment, a 5-year hepatitis B demonstration project was implemented in Zanzibar during January 2017-December 2021, following the 2015 WHO HBV care and treatment guidelines. Participants included adults (aged ≥ 18 years) who tested positive for HBV surface antigen and tested negative for HIV and hepatitis C antibody. Participants were examined for clinical signs of liver disease and testing was conducted at baseline to assess treatment eligibility and every 6-12 months thereafter. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) was provided at no cost to treatment-eligible participants. Clinical and laboratory data were analysed to assess improvement in proximal disease outcomes. Among 596 participants enrolled, the median age was 32 years (IQR 26-39) and 365 (61%) were male. Of those enrolled, 268 (45%) returned for ≥ 1 follow-up visit, with a median of 511 days of follow-up. Overall, 58 patients initiated treatment: 15 met treatment criteria based on liver cirrhosis alone; 13 by APRI > 1.5; among those with HBV DNA results, six met criteria based on HBV DNA levels and ALT activity; 24 met ≥ 2 criteria. Significant decreases in ALT activities, APRI scores and HBV DNA levels were observed among those treated. This hepatitis B care and treatment programme was demonstrated to be feasible in a low-resource setting. Despite challenges, testing and linkage to care is critical to decrease the global burden of hepatitis B.","journal":"Journal of Viral Hepatitis","year":2024,"id":474851,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.7966,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":369409,"name":"Shaun Shadaker","orcid":"0000-0002-5772-7046","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":61256,"name":"Brian J. McMahon","orcid":"0000-0002-2347-7771","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":653503,"name":"Paige A. Armstrong","orcid":"0000-0002-5529-8786","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1311759,"name":"Geoff A. Beckett","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":426919,"name":"Saleem Kamili","orcid":"0000-0002-7984-9044","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":695410,"name":"Aaron M. Harris","orcid":"0000-0001-7121-7635","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1311306,"name":"Sanaa Said","orcid":"0000-0003-0132-0666","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":7,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:06:13.042906Z","pmid":"39707980","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}