The Union launched a new observational study investigating tuberculosis transmission in children in February. Close to 2,000 children under five years of age will be enrolled in the research, which is taking place in four francophone African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Central African Republic.
Diagnosing and treating TB in children has long been a challenge, as traditional testing methods are less effective on children, and fixed-dose medicines formulated for children remain hard to come by. Better methods of preventing child TB are therefore especially important.
The Union study will evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of home visits to identify children in regular contact with adults with bacteriologically-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. The children will then be screened using simple standard procedures, and those free of active TB will receive preventive therapy: three months of the new paediatric formulation RH75/50 in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Central African Republic or the standard six-month isoniazid regimen in Benin.
Union experts will work closely with investigators from the national TB programmes on this study, which has been funded by Initiative 5%/Expertise-France.