Haemovigilance and Trends of Transfusion Transmissible Viral Infections among Asymptomatic Population at Akatsi South Municipal in Volta Region of Ghana from 2014 to 2019

Background Tracking the changing epidemiology of Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTIs), including Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is critical to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG.3.3) milestones and deadlines. This study assessed the dynamics associated with Blood Donation and TTIs among blood donors at the Akatsi South Municipality in the Volta Region of Ghana. Methods This was a haemovigilance study, designed to retrospectively evaluate secondary data on 2,588 blood donors in Akatsi South District Hospital from 2014 to 2019. Data was collected, managed and quality controlled done electronically using Microsoft Visual Basics, and STATA. TTIs’ trends were determined using frequentist and descriptive statistics, and 95% confidence intervals using Clopper Pearson test. Results Prevalence of TTIs was 8.0%. The prevalence of HIV as well as HBV and HCV, was 3.8%, 3.2% and 1.0% respectively. For female hosts, the prevalence was 7.4% (HIV), 4.2 % (HBV) and 1.6% (HCV). For Male-host, the rates were 3.1% (HIV), 3.5% (HBV) and 1.0% (HVC). Donors aged 15-19years were most infected at rates of 13.2% (HIV), 4.7% (HBV) and 1.9% (HCV). Conclusion About 57(2.4%) and 3(1.2%) of 2380 blood donated were TTIs false negatives and false positives respectively. In addition to being a driver of TTIs among blood donors in this study, the HIV prevalence among teenagers was significantly above the regional and national rates. These rates have ‘programmatic’ and ‘research’ implications. A relatively higher sensitive blood transfusion screening method is urgently needed to prevent the transfusion of TTIs false negative bloods in Akatsi Municipal Hospital ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The University of Health and Allied Sciences' Review Ethical Committee gave ethical approval for this work on certification number UHAS-REC A.6 [102] 19-20. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors