BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- A new World Health Organization (WHO) global collaboration center for tuberculosis (TB) research and innovation was established in China on Friday, aiming to offer Chinese expertise to the global campaign of curbing the world's deadliest infectious disease.
The center was officially inaugurated at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) in Beijing. It will focus on scientific and technological innovation, disease surveillance and other areas of TB prevention and control.
"China has made significant progress in reducing the burden of TB and is playing an increasingly important role in the global TB response," said Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO Department of HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections.
According to the WHO World TB Report 2025, the total TB incidence in China dropped significantly to 49 per 100,000 population in 2024. This has made China a country with moderate to low TB prevalence.
Kasaeva said the new center could serve as an important platform for global innovation, research, technology exchange and capacity building, helping translate scientific advances into practical solutions.
Zhao Yanlin, head of the National Center for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control under the China CDC, said the center will serve five core functions.
They include developing, evaluating and promoting new diagnostic technologies, anti-TB drugs, vaccines and digital health tools; contributing to the formulation and revision of WHO guidelines and standards on TB; providing international training and capacity building in laboratory testing and epidemiological investigations; conducting global TB surveillance, risk assessment and data sharing; and establishing multilateral platforms for technical exchanges and joint research, according to Zhao.
According to WHO data, TB remains the world's leading cause of death from a single infectious disease, despite decades of efforts to control it. The establishment of the new center comes as the international community works toward the goal of ending the global TB epidemic by 2030.
Since 2012, China has seen a continuous decline of TB, with both the incidence and mortality rates dropping by approximately 30 percent, while maintaining a national cure rate exceeding 90 percent. ■
