Abstract: Objective  To understand the public awareness of tuberculosis (TB) control and prevention in Guangdong province and to provide scientific evidence for effective TB health promotion.  Methods  49 514 people were selected through a proportional stratified cluster random sampling method, and they were interviewed face to face with a standard questionnaire. 49 514 questionnaires were collected and the qualified rate was 100%.  Results  The public total awareness rate to key messages on TB prevention and control was 78.4% (194 183/247 570). The group of aged over 60 years old had lower awareness rate (67.5%, 32 265/47 765). The total awareness rate of the local residents was 80.8% (166 838/206 505）, which was significantly higher than the floating population (Z=63.96，P<0.05). The majority of the study subjects knew that pulmonary TB, with cough as main symptom, was an infectious disease as a major threat to health and impeding human productivity but curable. By contrast, 28.9% people did not know about TB control institutes which providing professional TB services.  Conclusion  The public awareness rate of TB knowledge in Guangdong province is relatively high. New policies for health promotion should be developed and more comprehensive activities should be carried out in the future to improve the public awareness of TB.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary/prevention and control, Health promotion, Questionnaires