More than half of the targeted population in Lira District has shunned Hepatitis B testing and vaccination over unclear circumstances.
A survey conducted between October 2016 and April 2017 indicates that out of the targeted 74,000, only 26,017 residents have so far accessed the vaccine.
The report says that at least 5,000 people tested positive to Hepatitis B in Lira.
The highest figure of those who tested positive is from Agali Sub-county, with 6.2% of a total population of 24,826 people.
While releasing the report, Thomas Awanyo, the Lira District cold chain technician, said the majority of those that snubbed testing and vaccination are men, adding that they collected data from 26 health centres in the district.
He says Agali Sub-county in Erute South Constituency has the worst response rate with only three per cent out of the targeted 24,800 people who managed to get vaccinated under the programme,.
Awanyo adds that given the slow response, more than 100,000 doses of the Hepatitis B vaccine currently in stock in the district stores are at the risk of expiry if they are not utilised by October 2018, he added.
