China's Ministry of Health is going to launch a nationwide survey on the current epidemic situation of hepatitis B in a bid to give scientific support to the country's prevention of the disease.

The control of hepatitis B has been listed on the 11th national five-year program (2006-2010) and is one of the priorities of the ministry on its infectious disease control agenda, said Qi Xiaoqiu, director of the Department of Disease Control under the ministry.

The survey will focus on the current epidemic situation, changing trends, transmission elements, financial burdens and immunization evaluation of hepatitis B, noted Qi at a national conference on the immunization plan of 2006 held on Tuesday.

"The control of hepatitis B is a crucial task of the ministry this year. We are organizing experts to assess the survey and will work out a detailed plan soon," said Qi.

Hepatitis B is one of the major infectious disease in China, which carried out nationwide surveys about the epidemic situation of hepatitis on 1979 and 1992. According to experts, the country currently has 20 million people infected with chronic hepatitis B.

On Jan. 28, the ministry issued a national prevention and control plan on hepatitis B for the next five years, which set a goal of significant decrease in the incidence of hepatitis B and deaths caused by hepatocirrhosis and liver cancer by 2010.