The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) has planned to observe World Tuberculosis Day on March 24, 2014 with a new campaign titled, “Discover the Truth. Fear Not Tuberculosis”. On the weekends during April and May, 2014, Taiwan CDC will collaborate with street artists to spread TB awareness with live performances in Taipei City, Taichung City, Kaohsiung City and Hualien County.
　　Thanks to medical advances, tuberculosis is not only now treatable, but curable. Nevertheless, many people still harbor misconceptions and unfounded fears about the disease. According to a 2013 Taiwan CDC report, 50.8% of people did not know that after about two weeks of effective treatment, TB patients with nonresistant active infections are no longer contagious, and 44% were misinformed about early signs and symptoms of TB, which include a persistent cough of more than two weeks, chest pain, weight loss, lack of appetite, and coughing up phlegm. The report also revealed that 36.7% of those surveyed felt uncomfortable about sitting beside a TB patient, and 46.2% were worried about the discrimination against TB patients. This year, the TB prevention campaign focuses not only on the importance of early diagnosis and early treatment, but also raising awareness and spreading information about TB, thereby eliminating discrimination against TB patients.
　　Tuberculosis is a disease that affects many. Even talented classical composer like Mozart, or giant in modern Chinese literature like Lu Xun, and Lin Daiyu, a character in the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber –lived with tuberculosis. In the 2014 campaign, “Discover the Truth, Fear not Tuberculosis”, these historical and literary characters will tour Taiwan putting on live street performances to bring the message of tuberculosis prevention and treatment to the people and dispel public misconceptions about the condition.
　　Taiwan Centers for Disease Control Director-General Feng-Yee Chang said that tuberculosis has remained the most commonly reported notifiable disease in Taiwan. Since July 2006, Taiwan began a national campaign to halve the number of TB cases within a decade. Consequent policies include implementing the Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course (DOTS) program, restricting air travel of patients with infections TB, treating patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), enhancing check-ups for those who have come in contact with TB, treatment plans for latent TB, initiatives to reach out to high-risk groups, and more. In fact, various organizations are mobilizing resources to prevent TB epidemics, integrating domestic public health, medical care, and laboratory testing to better manage the spread of the disease and to reach out to high-risk groups. Since the ambitious national TB campaign began more than seven years ago, incidences of TB have dropped. In 2005, there were 72.5 TB cases for every 100,000 people for a total of 16,472 TB cases nationwide. By 2013, the figures fell to an estimated 51.5 cases for 100,000 people with 11,800 reported TB cases in Taiwan. In terms of mortality rate, there were 4.3 reported mortality cases out of every 100,000 people, about 970 patients, in 2005. In 2013, the number of reported mortality cases due to TB dropped to an estimated 2.5 cases per 100,000 people, about 590 cases, showing significant improvement. 
　　Still, many challenges lay ahead, including the rise of drug-resistant TB strains in neighboring countries and an increasing number of HIV infections. Taiwan CDC already has the framework and policies for disease prevention and is continually improving and making efforts to make medical treatment more accessible to disadvantaged populations and introducing new drugs or examination techniques to align existing national standards with international models.