Hepatitis B Foundation gives Prof. Akosa 7-day ultimatum to retract his ‘false’ comment

The Hepatitis B Foundation of Ghana has issued a 7-day ultimatum to renowned cellular pathologist and lifestyle wellness consultant, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, to retract what the Foundation describes as a false statement on how one can contract the disease.

The former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service has said communal eating from one bowl can help spread Hepatitis B.

He stated that eating soupy foods such as fufu, omo tuo, or tuo zaafi together from one bowl can make people "swallow saliva" from each other.

Prof. Akosa, who was leading a discussion on practical ideas intended to improve quality health in Ghana at the Ghana Shippers Authority Hall at Ridge in Accra on Tuesday, explained that people put their hands in their mouths and then dip them in the soup, and such behaviour, they can mix saliva with the soup. If they have Hepatitis B, they can spread it.

He was sharing ideas on healthy foods and lifestyles to help prevent diseases.

"Once upon a time, we were all there, there was group participation, group eating, group everything... And even the eating, it was later on that I [Prof. Akosa] realized that this is how we spread Hepatitis B. We didn’t know that. We are all eating fufu; by the time you finish, you are drinking saliva," he said.

"I mean, five, six of you, you are doing omo tuo or you are doing fufu, what do you think you are doing? You are going in like that and then you come in; by the time you are ending, you are drinking saliva. It is the easiest way to spread Hepatitis B," he said.

However, in an interview with Starr News, an executive member of the Hepatitis B Foundation of Ghana, Theobald Owusu Ansah, stated that the claims of the retired professor are false and have no scientific basis.

He asked Prof. Akosa to retract his comment or they would embark on a demonstration against him because his comment is discriminatory and creates panic among people living with Hepatitis B.

"We all know that there is no scientific evidence that one can contract Hepatitis B by eating with a Hepatitis B patient. Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood or mother-to-child transmission. The funny thing is that when I started advocacy, he was then the Director-General of GHS, and we were discussing policy and other matters with him, but I don’t know why he made this statement. He should issue a statement for what he has said and also apologize to people living with Hepatitis B for lying."

He expressed surprise over the silence of the Ghana Health Service on the matter.

"It is an unfortunate comment coming from a whole professor of medicine. He has destroyed the work we have done for the past twelve years. I don’t know why the Programme Manager of the Ghana Health Service, the Hepatitis B Programme Manager are all quiet about this issue. Is it because he taught them in school or because he’s the former Director-General of GHS, they don’t want to say anything?" Theobald Owusu Ansah asked.