The Chinese government says the country has 120 million people who suffer from chronic hepatitis B. In 2005, China reported 982,297 infections, Yang said but did not give more details.

"The reported number is still growing and that has China concerned," said Stephen Hadler, an immunization expert from the World Health Organization in Beijing. "China is becoming more and more aware of the burden."

Like AIDS, hepatitis B is spread by contact with infected blood or through sex. But hepatitis B is easier to catch because it is more concentrated in the blood and can survive briefly outside the human body.

Experts have said the disease is often spread among Chinese children because doctors reuse needles and syringes while administering immunizations against other illnesses. This mostly takes place in poor rural areas.

Yang said funding for the five-year project was also used for syringes designed for one-time use that provide safe injections and help prevent further infections.

One of the biggest challenges the project has faced is assuring timely vaccinations for babies in poor provinces who are born at home and cannot be taken to hospitals immediately, Yang said.

Managing the floating population of migrant workers who travel around the country to find jobs is another difficult factor, he said.

China's goal for the next five years is to reduce the carrier rate in children younger than 5 to less than 1 percent and the carrier rate of the whole population to less than 7 percent, Yang said.