Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 31, 2002
International Cooperation to Curb Children Hepatitis B in China
The Chinese government will make a joint commitment on International Children's Day, June 1, with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the Vaccine Fund, to protect children throughout China against hepatitis B.
The Chinese government will make a joint commitment on International Children's Day, June 1, with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the Vaccine Fund, to protect children throughout China against hepatitis B.
The Chinese government and the two organizations will equally share the total investment -- some 75 million U.S. dollars -- which will be used to immunize all infants born in China against hepatitis B in the next five years.
The fund will be used to purchase vaccines, train health workers, provide logistical support and facilitate communications.
It will put special focus on the 12 poorest provinces and regions in China, and provide 500 million auto-disable (AD) syringes to ensure safe injections and boost the development of China's AD syringe industry.
Statistics with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) suggested that hepatitis B is endemic in China, causing some 250, 000 deaths every year. These preventable deaths account for almost one third of the global hepatitis B death toll.
Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, today visited local hygiene and immunological service centers in Beijing's Shunyi District.
She said that although hepatitis B is mostly found in adults, most people are infected in their infant years. The disease is preventable so long as a person is vaccinated against it at a very early age.
Bellamy said that including hepatitis B immunization in China's routine childhood immunization program over the past decade is an important step taken by the Chinese government to improve the work of immunizing children.