Communicable disease control in China: From Mao to now

Hipgrave, David

Overall TB control in China was another example where CDC suffered due to lack of public funding in poor areas, marketisation of the health sector resulting in lack of patient access to free care, and its handling as a vertical rather than integrated clinical-and-public-health program. More recently, in the context of an overall improvement in CDC in China since 2003, massively increased national funding and improved surveillance for disease using the internet have enabled China to meet and maintain global TB control targets of detecting at least 70% of new sputumsmear positive cases and curing 85% of them (32, 54, 55) . As with schistosomiasis, the increase in national funding for TB control is very encouraging. However, the same challenges continue to apply to TB control as to CDC and public health in China in general: national and local funding for dedicated and trained staff and services, and making related services accessible and affordable to all, including the mobile population, despite the continued focus on profit in most health facilities.