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BEIJING, Feb. 13-- China was once a recipient of development aid, but now it is a major financial and technology contributor to global health. "China has done a very strong job of addressing health inequality and poverty over the past decades. What we'd like to see is the innovation of China not only continues to help with all the domestic things, but also benefits other developing countries," Bill Gates said Tuesday in an interview with Xinhua. Gates, the co-chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said he has seen China successfully partner with the foundation to tackle domestic health and development challenges over the past decade. In 2009, the Gates Foundation has collaborated with China on the launch of a joint tuberculosis (TB) control program to develop and demonstrate innovative control models that can help China further reduce the number of people who develop TB, particularly multidrug-resistant TB(MDR-TB). The model involves integration with health systems, creative financing mechanisms and the use of new tools such as molecular diagnostics and medication monitors. Piloted in the cities of Zhenjiang, Yichang and Hanzhong, the model had benefited about 14 million people by 2017, helping China meet its TB-related UN Millennium Development Goal - to reduce TB prevalence and mortality by half between 1990 and 2017 - five years ahead of target. However, the challenges remain huge. The World Health Organization says China still has the third highest TB rate, with around 900,000 new cases each year. China also has a fifth of the world's MDR-TB cases, which are especially difficult and costly to treat. | 
