Improving the chances of children with TB

About 450-500 new cases of childhood TB are diagnosed in the paediatric department of QECH every year, and the number is increasing every year. This increase in numbers is partly due to an increase in infectious adults in the community and also due to the difficulties in diagnosing pulmonary TB in HIV infected children. 

In the past cure rates and completion rates for children have not been good, for various reasons. Children depend on a parent to go to clinics and get drugs. With high levels of HIV in the area, when one or both parents have died and the child is moved from one relative to another, often TB drugs are forgotten and clinics unattended. Also if parents are sick they may be unable to take a child to the clinic.  When a child’s health improves (which may happen long before treatment is completed), the carers may decide that their time is better spent earning the family money rather than taking the child to the clinic. 

Two specially trained nurses have been appointed to look after the children with TB. They teach the families about TB and its management in a holistic and caring manner. By working with families of children who are put on to TB treatment, the nurses can help them understand the importance of regular and long term medication and what to watch for in case of complications. 

A simple illustrated booklet in the local language is supplied that provides information about TB and related problems such as malnutrition and HIV. Click here to see the booklet.

Read about Dr Steve Graham's work to find child contacts of adult TB cases

Read some case studies of children at QECH

Published work from the project:
In the Annals of Tropical Paediatrics (2006) 26, 205–213 - Risk factors for TB infection and disease in young childhood contacts in Malawi - R. SINFIELD, M. NYIRENDA, S. HAVES, E. M. MOLYNEUX & S. M. GRAHAM
In the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TUBERCULOSIS & LUNG DISEASES 10(5):585–587 - Poor attendance at a child TB contact clinic in Malawi - M. Nyirenda, R. Sinfield, S. Haves, E. M. Molyneux, S. M. Graham