In lieu of World TB Day last March 24, China's first lady Peng Liyuan met with construction workers in Beijing to generate publicity for tuberculosis' prevention and treatment. 

The first lady is no stranger to the responsibilities of using her influence to promote awareness on the disease's prevention and treatment.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) appointed Peng as goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in 2011. She was the health ambassador of the Ministry of Health's HIV/AIDS prevention in January 2006, and the national ambassador for TB control and prevention in March 2007. 

According to Wang Bin, deputy director of the disease prevention and control bureau of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the 4.27 million cases of TB were reported between 2011 and 2015. 1.6 million of those were highly contagious. 

Students and migrant workers are the most vulnerable population because of their usually poor living conditions.

However, this number has since saw a decline. In 2011, the incidence rate was at 71.1 per 100,000 people, dropping in 2015 to only 63.4 per 100,000. The mortality rate fell by 23 percent during the same four-year period. 

The government allocated 3.06 billion yuan ($471 million) in the past five years to control and prevent TB. However, the 2015 Global TB Report published by WHO revealed that out of 10 TB patients in China, only three receive proper laboratory diagsosis. Only five in 100 of all estimated multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients (MDR-TB) receive proper treatment. 

TagsWorld TB Day, first lady of China, Xi Jinping wife, Peng Liyuan, sopranos in China, Kate Middleton, Kate Middleton of China, Tuberculosis, awareness