Abstract:

China is currently not on track to achieve the tuberculosis (TB) targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals even though the country is detecting and successfully treating more than 70% of its incident TB cases each year. Based on recent scientific understanding and evidence, achieving these targets are possible if the TB control approach shifts from purely “passive detection” to include large-scale “active screening”. China has an unprecedented opportunity to scale up “active screening” because the diagnostic technology and infrastructure for active screening are largely or will soon be in place, including the availability of tongue swab-based molecular tests and AI-assisted imaging of X-ray and CT images. By seizing this opportunity, China can be the first high TB-burden country to reduce TB incidence by 80% and eliminate TB as a major public health problem in 2030.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Communicable disease control, Consensus development conferences as topic, Tuberculosis elimination