Between Achievement and Challenge: Examining China's Tuberculosis Control Pathway and Future Directions from a Global Perspective

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 (the Report) was released on November 12, 2025, covering disease burden, diagnosis and treatment, prevention and screening, financing, universal health coverage (UHC), multisectoral accountability, research and innovation, and provides the latest benchmark for global tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control. The Report indicates that China's incidence rate has, for the first time, entered the category of lower moderate-burden countries. China has made significant progress in expanding coverage of rapid diagnostic technologies and increasing domestic financing. Its strategy and implementation model for scaling up TB preventive treatment (TPT) have been recognized as an international best practice, although current coverage among household contacts remains below the global average. However, global comparisons also reveal that China continues to face challenges in narrowing the case detection gap, improving the bacteriological positivity rate, addressing the high burden of drug-resistant (DR) TB, and mitigating the economic risks for affected households. These challenges are similar to those in high-burden countries. This perspective uses the Report's structured framework to conduct a systematic comparative analysis of global trends and China's TB control landscape. It aims to review China's achievements and challenges and, drawing on global consensus and local practices, propose strategic priority actions necessary for China to advance toward the goal of ending the TB epidemic.