China to boost spending to fight TB

The Ministry of Health intends to spend "hundreds of millions of yuan" (tens of millions of dollars) on curbing the killer disease, compared with just 40 million yuan (4.8 million dollars) at present, the China Daily said.

This follows criticism from international organisations that Chinese efforts to fight tuberculosis have stalled over the past decade, after rapid initial successes.

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Figures vary for annual deaths in China from tuberculosis, or TB, ranging from 130,000 reported in the China Daily to 150,000 estimated by the World Bank.

One reason for the enormous death toll could be that a rising number of tuberculosis cases go unnoticed.