Evaluation on project for timely vaccination of the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine in neonates in Tongwei county, Gansu

ObjectiveTo evaluate the project for timely vaccination of the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine in neonates in Tongwei county of Gansu province, which was implemented from April 2006 to December 2007 and supported by MOH and WHO. MethodsBy multi-stage sampling, 210 people and 401 people were selected before and after the project to conduct questionnaire survey about their awareness of hepatitis B prevention/control, their babys birth place and the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine, similar data in routine report of the project implementation were used to conduct I/Isup2/sup test for the vaccination rate comparison. ResultsDuring the implementation of the project, the supervision and direction were carried out by the project leading group in all townships and villages (22 times for townships and 456 times for villages). Compared with the data before the project, both the reported 1supst/sup dose of hepatitis B vaccination rate, timely vaccination rate and the surveyed 1supst/sup dose of hepatitis B vaccination rate, timely vaccination rate increased significantly (I/Isup2/sup= 124.57、2332.8、10.7、135.6 respectively, IP/I＜0.01). By publicizing the knowledge about prevention and control of hepatitis B, the rate of delivery in hospital increased significantly (/Isup2/sup=562.2, IP/I＜0.001); the differences on the peoples awareness of hepatitis B prevention and control before and after the project was significant (I/Isup2/sup=87.8, IP/I＜0.001). After the project, 40 children were selected randomly from 3 townships to detect anti-HBs, the result indicated that the antibody seroconversion rate was up to 90%. ConclusionThe project was successful by frequent supervision and direction, strict project management and wide health education to increase the peoples awareness about the prevention and control of hepatitis B.