The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded activity Tuberculosis Acceleration Response and Care (TB ARC) conducted a series of childhood TB sensitisation meetings on November 20 – 24, 2017 in Mombasa, Eldoret, Nyeri and Nairobi targeting Paediatricians from 38 counties in the country. The sensitisation aimed at enhancing the role of Paediatricians and health care workers in the private and public sector in childhood TB prevention and care.
Tuberculosis is a major killer of children. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) at least one million children suffer from TB each year and 140,000 children die of this preventable, treatable and curable disease globally. In 2015, Kenya reported nearly 7,000 cases of TB in infants and children, with those under age five facing the greatest risk of having severe forms and often fatal forms of the disease such as TB meningitis which can result to deafness, blindness, paralysis and mental disability.
Key topics of discussion included: an overview of the TB burden globally and in Kenya, childhood TB diagnosis, treatment and follow up, active case finding and the contribution of the public-private sectors in meeting the goal of ending TB by 2035 and the role of paediatricians in managing and eventually eliminating childhood TB.
Several gaps were identified during these sessions – staff at the maternal and child health clinics (MCH) are not fully involved in screening and diagnosis of TB, presenting a missed opportunity for preventive treatment and early diagnosis. Minimal involvement of some cadres such as Paediatricians, Pharmacists, Physicians, Clinical Officers in the Out-Patient Department (OPD) was also identified as a gap in the identification and care of TB patients. It was also noted that Paediatricians did not have reporting tools such as TB registers, Presumptive Registers, Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT) registers and the national paediatric guidelines.
Recommendations fronted to fill the existing gaps included: integration of TB screening services across all departments where children receive medical services, creating demand for TB services and care through existing activities such as incorporating TB in WASH campaigns and the school curriculum, advocating for additional TB engagement with retail chemists to refer presumptive TB patients and to identify paediatricians to serve as childhood TB ambassadors and involve them in TB activities such as World TB day commemorations, giving talks and continuous medical education sessions.
Through the TB ARC activity, CHS seeks to expand access to quality-assured TB services in all counties and for all forms of TB, through the identification and implementation of evidence-based interventions aimed at increasing the proportion of TB cases identified and treated. A total of 112 Paediatricians attended the sensitization meetings.
