Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
HOME Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation ABOUT US Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation CONTACT US Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation ENGLISH Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation Русский Donate Now
Programs
VACCINATION
HIV/AIDS
DEWORMING
SCREENING
       » Hepatitis B
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
       » HIV / AIDS
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
       » Hypothyroidism
SUBSTAINABILITY
WHERE WE WORK
       » Russia
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
       » Azerbaijan
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
       » Georgia
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
       » Armenia
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
       » Kyrgyzstan
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
 
 
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
Print This Article    Print This Article
Screening
Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation
Screening for Hepatitis B in Georgia
Program Highlights:
Goal is to protect newborns from acquiring chronic hepatitis B infection from their mothers through timely, aggressive medical intervention
The entire cohort of pregnant women – approximately 50,000 women in Georgia and 150,000 women in Azerbaijan annually - is being screened for hepatitis B carriage
Infants born to hepatitis B carriers receive both HBIG (immunoglobulin against hepatitis B) and the hepatitis B vaccine within 12 hours of birth
RVF has trained health care workers and provides screening kits, definitive testing materials, and HBIG for at-risk infants to health facilities throughout the country
  
The hepatitis B virus can be passed from infected mothers to their newborns during the process of labor and delivery. Indeed, approximately 90% of chronic carriers of hepatitis B infection will transmit their infection if no preventative therapy is given laboring mothers and/or their babies. This perinatal transmission can be
Lab worker conducts HIV and hepatitis B screening
Lab worker conducts HIV and hepatitis B screening
successfully prevented if two conditions are met: 1) Pregnant women are identified as carriers before labor has begun; 2) Appropriate therapy is begun for carrier mothers and /or their offspring.

In October 2005, RVF began an ambitious nationwide in Georgia to protect the vulnerable population of neonates from the ravages of chronic hepatitis B infection. After the success of the Georgian program, RVF launched a hepatitis B screening program in Azerbaijan in early 2009. Working collaboratively with the local ministries of health, the RVF is providing the training and materials which enable the country’s health care workers to perform rapid diagnostic screening for hepatitis B. Women are tested at their first prenatal check-up. If rapid screening is positive, more extensive and definitive testing is performed in Reference Laboratories. This definitive testing, also funded by the RVF, allows identification of neonates exposed to hepatitis B who will be treated with the combined preventative therapy of vaccine and specific antibody –HBIG. Transmission rates are known to fall from 90% to less than 1% for hepatitis B when the program is successfully implemented. In Georgia, as of March 30, 2009, 137,314 pregnant women had been screened for Hepatitis B; 2,238 newborns had been vaccinated with HIBG.

As with all RVF-supported programs, both programs are being implemented entirely through the existing public health infrastructure by local health care workers, so that from the very start the ministries of health and local healthcare workers have full ownership of the programs. The programs have been endorsed by the ministers of health for continued funding by government sources beginning in 2010 in Georgia and in 2011 in Azerbaijan. This requirement of sustainability is an inherent part of all RVF programs.
 
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
Donate Now
Search
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
» Russia: Introduction of new vaccines in Russia Haemophilus type b (Hib) Research and Pilot Vaccination Programs in Russia.
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
» Georgia: Over 1.2 million children and adults targeted for Vaccination against Measles and Rubella
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
» Armenia: RVF-Supported Mass Immunization Campaign in Armenia a Success
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
MISSION STATEMENT
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
The Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation (RVF) is a non-political, non-partisan organization whose mission is to make a difference in the health and wellbeing of vulnerable children...

» More
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation Copyright © 2009 - Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation - All Rights Reserved. Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation
     Design by: Zinda Staff Login      |        Site Map        |        Privacy        |        Links