The Union recently brought together national tuberculosis programme (NTP) managers and pediatricians from eight francophone African countries for the region’s first joint workshop on childhood TB. The objectives of this Union workshop were to examine the current state of child TB management, identify priority actions and establish a basis for collaboration between NTPs and paediatricians across francophone Africa.
Under-diagnosis of TB in children was identified as one of the main problems shared by all present. Indeed, the difficulty of diagnosing TB in children is frequently a major obstacle in Africa, where proper diagnostic tools are often unavailable in hospitals and access to radiography is very limited. The NTPs present also underlined the fact that the contact investigation guidelines set by the World Health Organization and The Union are not implemented.
Based on the participants’ input and discussion at the workshop, The Union proposed three main recommendations:
- Adoption of a national diagnostic algorithm and training
- Operational research on contact screening and management of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT)
- Correct notification of child TB data (including Basic Management Units, hospitals, etc.)
Participants agreed that inclusion of these recommendations in their national strategic plans, followed by widespread implementation, should have a significant impact on childhood TB in francophone Africa. Follow-up meetings and further collaboration are being planned.
“We’re very pleased at the high level of response to this first workshop on childhood TB in francophone Africa,” said Dr Ghislain Koura of The Union’s Department of TB and HIV. “It demonstrates the NTPs’ increasing awareness and commitment to providing improved care for children with TB, whose problems have not been effectively addressed.”
The countries represented were Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Madagascar and Niger. The workshop was held in Cotonou, Benin on 7-8 January 2014.