Survey of coverage, strategy and cost of hepatitis B vaccination in rural and urban areas of China.

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 used 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 students aged 7-9 years, they were 85.8% and 31.5% in 1994, respective-ly. 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&mgr;gX3). 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 necessary to evaluate the quality of serological lab test to HBVMs in the maternal prescreening.CONCLUSION:Remarkable achievements have been made according to the national planning and policy of HB immunization in China.