Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in a highly endemic area of southern China after catch-up immunization

The Chinese national goals for control of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were to achieve a prevalence of HBsAg below 7% for the entire population, and 1% for children under 5‐year old, by 2010. To determine whether Guangxi, a multi‐minority province with a low socio‐economic status and a very high prevalence of HBV, achieved this goal, a seroepidemiological survey of HBV infection was carried out using stratified, random cluster sampling. The results show that the overall prevalence of HBsAg is 9.16% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.32–10%]. The prevalence in males (10.96%, 95% CI = 9.64–12.28%) is significantly higher than in females (7.71%, 95% CI = 6.64–8.78%; χ2 = 10.5923, P