A child TB "Training of Trainers" course was recently held in Stellenbosch, South Africa for representative from the national tuberculosis programmes (NTPs) of 12 African countries. The course focused on how to train staff to implement and evaluate child TB activities in the region. The sessions emphasised the importance of integrating such training into ongoing related activities, such as training on HIV, maternal and child health, integrated case-management of sick children or other NTP activities.
The course was facilitated by Dr Steve Graham of The Union's Child Lung Health Division on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO) Stop TB Department and the WHO African Regional Office.
Dr Graham has developed tools for training NTP staff to manage child TB and to evaluate these efforts at the community and district level . Created on behalf of WHO, these tools will be available on the WHO and Union websites later in 2012.
Participating countries were Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.