China still faces TB prevention challenges despite steady incidence decline

BEIJING -- The incidence rate of tuberculosis in China has declined by 3 percent annually since 2021, but challenges with the disease prevention and control persist.

Liu Qing, a senior official of infectious disease with the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, revealed that the mortality rate of TB has maintained a low level. However, China still struggles to contain one of the world's most fatal infectious diseases, with the number of TB patients still high globally.

There is still an imbalance of TB incidence and prevention among different regions, and efforts need to be intensified for the timely identification of patients, Liu said at an event marking World Tuberculosis Day 2025, which fell on Monday.

Amid the challenging situation, Chinese experts have called for greater efforts to improve TB prevention, including better legislation, early screening for patients without symptoms and the application of new diagnostic technologies.

China has made notable progress in curbing the infectious disease. The incidence and mortality rates of TB in China had dropped 30 percent compared with 2012, according to a national plan for TB prevention and treatment that was issued in November 2024.

It aims to reduce the TB incidence rate to below 50 per 100,000 by 2025 and below 43 per 100,000 by 2030, as per the plan.