Original Articles
Copyright ©The Author(s) 1999. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 15, 1999; 5(4): 320-323
Published online Aug 15, 1999. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v5.i4.320
Survey of coverage, strategy and cost of hepatitis B vaccination in rural and urban areas of China
Xian-Jia Zeng, Gong-Huan Yang, Su-Su Liao, Ai-Ping Chen, Jian Tan, Zheng-Jing Huang, Hui Li
Xian-Jia Zeng, Su-Su Liao, Hui Li, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, CAMS and PUMC, Beijing 100005, China
Gong-Huan Yang, Ai-Ping Chen, Jian Tan and Zheng-Jing Huang, Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by China Medical Board of New York, Inc. USA, Grant NO. 93-582
Correspondence to: Xian-Jia Zeng, Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, CAMS and PUMC, Beijing 100005, China
Telephone: +86-10-65296971
Received: April 8, 1999
Revised: May 3, 1999
Accepted: May 19, 1999
Published online: August 15, 1999
Abstract

AIM: In order to understand the coverage, immunization strategy and cost of hepatitis B (HB) vaccination of China in recent years.

METHODS: A two-stage household random sampling method was us ed in the survey.

RESULTS: The survey carried out at 112 Disease Surveillance Points (DSPs) of 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China in 1996, showed that the coverage rates of HB vaccination among neonates were 96.9% in the urban DSPs and 50.8% in the rural DSPs in 1993-1994, while in student s aged 7-9 years, they were 85.8% and 31.5% in 1994, respectively. Up to 1994, 97.5% of the urban DSPs and 73.9% of the rural DSPs on a neonate vaccination against HB program were included in EPI. About 93% of the urban DSPs and 44% of the rural DSPs did HBsAg and HBeAg screening for all or part of pregnant women. The neonates received the regimen of high-dose HB vaccine in combination with hepatitis B immune globin (HBIG) if their mothers were HBsAg and/or HBeAg positive in pregnancy, otherwise they received the low-dose vaccine (10 μg × 3). Part of DSPs had a lower neonate coverage due to unreasonable allocation of the vaccines (used for adults not at risk) or higher cost or insufficient supply of the vaccines. It is n ecessary to evaluate the quality of serological lab test to HBVMs in the materna l prescreening.

CONCLUSION: Remarkable achievements have been made according to the national planning and policy of HB immunization in China.

Keywords: Hepatitis B vaccine; coverage rate; immuniza tion strategy; hepatitis B/prevention and control