As World Tuberculosis Day falls, experts are calling for greater efforts to eradicate the diseases and the social stigma surrounding it, as Wang Xiaodong reports.

Although the global battle against tuberculosis has largely been successful, the disease still poses a serious threat in China, especially for poor people, and will only be entirely eradicated through greater financial protection for patients and the elimination of social discrimination, according to experts speaking ahead of World Tuberculosis Day, which falls on March 24.

A report published by the World Health Organization said that in the past 20 years China has made great progress in the control and prevention of TB, which has resulted in a significant decline in the disease. Meanwhile, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China's top health authority, said the number of new cases has declined steadily in the past two decades.