Childhood Tuberculosis and Nutrition: Opportunities for Integrated Programming
Community platforms; maternal, newborn, and child health; and nutrition programs play an integral role in ensuring TB in children is identified and treated early; however all too often children with TB remain undiagnosed, uncounted, and untreated. Good nutrition is promoted as an essential element of TB treatment and weight gain is used to monitor children's progress during treatment. However, nutrition programs provide limited references to screening malnourished children for TB. This brief in meant to inform National TB Programs, nutrition programs, and providers how to capitalize on existing nutrition programs to identify children with TB. [Download]
Community platforms; maternal, newborn, and child health; and nutrition programs play an integral role in ensuring TB in children is identified and treated early; however all too often children with TB remain undiagnosed, uncounted, and untreated. Good nutrition is promoted as an essential element of TB treatment and weight gain is used to monitor children's progress during treatment. However, nutrition programs provide limited references to screening malnourished children for TB. This brief in meant to inform National TB Programs, nutrition programs, and providers how to capitalize on existing nutrition programs to identify children with TB. [Download]
The Policy and Practice Divide for Childhood Tuberculosis in Africa: A Landscape Analysis
In recent years, progress has been made to combat childhood TB. The emergence of policies and guidelines across Africa that incorporate childhood TB, coupled with innovative treatment and child-friendly medicine, have moved us closer to tackling one of the oldest and most persistent diseases in the world. However, this analysis shows that in African countries, a persistent divide between policy and practice threatens progress gained for addressing childhood TB across the region. This brief presents the landscape of childhood TB programming in 12 countries in Africa and suggests three focus areas critical for moving the dial on this intractable issue. [Download]
In recent years, progress has been made to combat childhood TB. The emergence of policies and guidelines across Africa that incorporate childhood TB, coupled with innovative treatment and child-friendly medicine, have moved us closer to tackling one of the oldest and most persistent diseases in the world. However, this analysis shows that in African countries, a persistent divide between policy and practice threatens progress gained for addressing childhood TB across the region. This brief presents the landscape of childhood TB programming in 12 countries in Africa and suggests three focus areas critical for moving the dial on this intractable issue. [Download]
Closing the Implementation Gap Between Policy and Service Delivery for Childhood TB
To improve the status of childhood TB service delivery, a focus on policy and practical implementation support is needed. Download the diagram to better understand the issue. [Download]
To improve the status of childhood TB service delivery, a focus on policy and practical implementation support is needed. Download the diagram to better understand the issue. [Download]
Strengthening Guidelines for Childhood Tuberculosis to Accelerate Diagnosis and Treatment
While many countries in Africa have developed national strategies to address childhood TB, implementation of these strategies in practice lags. National guidelines for the management of childhood TB can strengthen health service delivery and improve diagnosis and treatment. Because sick children frequently present to Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services, it is critical that MCH and TB services are linked and leveraged by clear guidance on the optimal interaction between these services. To better understand whether childhood TB guidelines can inform the roles and responsibilities of MCH providers and to identify opportunities for strengthening them and related tools, USAID and the ASH project assessed existing childhood TB guidelines in 13 countries in Africa. This brief provides a summary of findings and makes recommendations for revising outdated guidelines and strengthening them to improve service delivery and reduce the burden of TB in children. [Download]
While many countries in Africa have developed national strategies to address childhood TB, implementation of these strategies in practice lags. National guidelines for the management of childhood TB can strengthen health service delivery and improve diagnosis and treatment. Because sick children frequently present to Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services, it is critical that MCH and TB services are linked and leveraged by clear guidance on the optimal interaction between these services. To better understand whether childhood TB guidelines can inform the roles and responsibilities of MCH providers and to identify opportunities for strengthening them and related tools, USAID and the ASH project assessed existing childhood TB guidelines in 13 countries in Africa. This brief provides a summary of findings and makes recommendations for revising outdated guidelines and strengthening them to improve service delivery and reduce the burden of TB in children. [Download]
| Addressing Childhood Tuberculosis: Opportunities for Maternal and Child Survival Platforms This short video describes challenges faced by caregivers when seeking care for children with TB. It highlights the need for stronger linkages between MCH services and TB programs, in order to detect TB in children early and begin timely treatment. The video calls for increased attention to the opportunities created by existing maternal and child health platforms to practically address this increasingly important issue. |
The video was produced by the USAID-funded African Strategies for Health (ASH) project, led by Management Sciences for Health (MSH). It features commentaries from global and African regional experts in childhood TB including representatives from the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa, UNICEF, the TB Alliance and USAID.
Regional Actors Addressing Tuberculosis in Africa: Comparative Advantages, Challenges and Opportunities
Due to the resurgence and new status of TB as the leading infectious killer in the world, combined with the fact that the African region bears the highest TB and TB/HIV co-infection rates in the world and continues to struggle with multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), a large number of African regional actors have scaled up their efforts to combat the disease. They play specific and often complementary roles and have established a range of relationships with governments and donor agencies. Understanding how these actors operate, as well as their comparative advantages and challenges, will ensure that governments, policymakers, donors, and implementers partner with them effectively to prevent new TB infections and end preventable deaths.
[Download Technical Brief]
[In French]
Visit the online database to browse through more than 120 regional organizations working in health in Africa. >>Database
Due to the resurgence and new status of TB as the leading infectious killer in the world, combined with the fact that the African region bears the highest TB and TB/HIV co-infection rates in the world and continues to struggle with multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), a large number of African regional actors have scaled up their efforts to combat the disease. They play specific and often complementary roles and have established a range of relationships with governments and donor agencies. Understanding how these actors operate, as well as their comparative advantages and challenges, will ensure that governments, policymakers, donors, and implementers partner with them effectively to prevent new TB infections and end preventable deaths.
[Download Technical Brief]
[In French]
Visit the online database to browse through more than 120 regional organizations working in health in Africa. >>Database