Abstract:

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health challenge. Individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) constitute a substantial reservoir of potential future TB cases. Without effective interventions, this reservoir will persistently bring about new TB cases, sustaining the high TB epidemic. Both the World Health Organization and the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis have emphasized tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT) as a cornerstone to end the tuberculosis epidemic. The National Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Plan (2024-2030), released in November 2024, has listed TPT as a key measure and required that the TPT rate for LTBI population among close contacts of tuberculosis patients should reach 80% and above by 2030. Currently, China faces numerous challenges in TPT, including insufficient funding, lower awareness among the public and healthcare workers, poor adherence among infected individuals, and the need for innovation in both infection detection technologies and preventive treatment regimens. Future efforts should focus on increasing financial investment, developing tailored TPT clinics to improve accessibility, strengthening health workers’ training and health promotion for infected individuals to boost TPT acceptance and adherence, and promoting research on innovative diagnostic technologies and shorter regimens to advance the rapid scale-up of TPT, so as to accelerate the decline of the TB epidemic, and ultimately contribute to achieving the goal to end TB throughout China.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Latent infection, Preventive treatment