Uganda has procured 5 lakh doses of hepatitis B vaccines to be administered to children at birth and adults to combat and contain new infections. The hepatitis B vaccines will be delivered to public health facilities across the East African country to reduce the incidence of the virus.

Preparations in Uganda are already underway for onward distribution to health facilities. There has been a prolonged shortage of hepatitis B vaccines that affected vaccination campaigns in the country.

In 2022, an estimated 1,250 Ugandans died of the disease, and about 6 per cent of Uganda’s population, or 2.7 million people, remain chronically infected.