The Mississippi State Department of Health's (MSDH) Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program (PHBPP) works in partnership with providers to improve prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) through hepatitis B testing of pregnant women and case management of their infants.
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The Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program is managed and implemented through the MSDH Immunizations Office with the goal of identifying and treating infants born to hepatitis B-positive mothers at the state level.
The program works to identify hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive pregnant women and provides coordinated case management of their infants.
Case management includes active disease surveillance, coordinating interventions needed to prevent transmission, educating the public, patients and health care providers, and ensuring appropriate testing to determine the outcomes of cases.
Some of the key responsibilities tasked to MSDH PHBPP include:
- Identifying all HBsAg-positive pregnant women and their infants in Mississippi by working to ensure all pregnant women are tested for HBsAg
- Reporting and case management of all HBsAg-positive women and their infants
- Identification and case management of infants born to women of unknown HBsAg status
- Educating and auditing delivery facilities/hospitals about best practices, policies and procedures related to HBsAg screening and reporting, as well as administration of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) to exposed infants upon delivery
- Ensuring timely completion of the hepatitis B vaccine series and PVST for all infants born to HBsAg-positive women
- Ensure PHBPP program quality, monitoring and evaluation

