TOGO – The African Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called for immediate and comprehensive measures to end the significant toll of tuberculosis among children in Africa, WHO Regional Office for Africa said on its official website.

WHO highlights that the appeal was made jointly with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the Stop TB Partnership on the side-lines of the Seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Lomé, Togo.

The African Union, WHO, EGPAF and Stop TB Partnership also called for swift measures to accelerate recovery from the impact of COVID-19 while urging countries to facilitate the scale-up of child-friendly tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment and care.

According to WHO, the partners called on African countries to prioritize funding for tuberculosis prevention and control as well as allocate sufficient financial, technical and human resources to accelerate progress towards ending the disease in children and adolescents.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa emphasized that the epidemic of tuberculosis among children in Africa has been occurring in the shadows, adding that the call will galvanize action and ensure no child in Africa is lost to a disease which in many parts of the world is now history.

The low detection of tuberculosis arises from challenges in specimen collection as well as bacteriological confirmation of the disease among children who can display non-specific clinical symptoms that overlap those of other common childhood diseases.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa outlined that strong political leadership, accountability, financial support and global solidarity are critically needed to increase access to effective diagnostics, medications, vaccines and other tools for tuberculosis control.

In addition, Executive Director of Stop TB Partnership Dr Lucica Ditiu called on all partners to be committed, united and learn from the organization’s achievements and mistakes to ensure that an airborne disease hundreds of years old like TB is not a threat for the generations to come.

Chip Lyons, President and Chief Executive Officer of EGPAF also urged African governments to meaningfully invest in the tools and technologies needed to respond to the tuberculosis pandemic while prioritizing children and adolescents in these efforts.

Under the WHO End TB Strategy, countries should aim to reduce TB cases by 80% and cut deaths by 90% by 2030 compared with 2015. The strategy also sets key milestones that countries should cross by 2020 and 2025 if they are to end the disease,” WHO reveals.

The World Health Organization cautioned that two-thirds of children in the African region are unreported or undiagnosed for the disease, noting that poor diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis is leading to an increased risk of rapid disease progression and mortality in younger children.

The agency outlined that the low detection of tuberculosis arises from challenges in specimen collection as well as bacteriological confirmation of the disease among children who can display non-specific clinical symptoms that overlap those of other common childhood diseases.

Furthermore, children and young adolescents usually access primary health care or child health services in facilities where the capacity to diagnose for tuberculosis is often limited while malnutrition is worsening the impact of tuberculosis is malnutrition.

Childhood tuberculosis doubled with malnutrition poses major health challenges in the ‎African Union Member States,” said H.E Minata Samate Cessouma, Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social ‎Development, African Union Commission.

Minata Samate Cessouma called for innovative interventions to integrate ‎tuberculosis diagnosis in nutrition programmes to identify the disease ‎in children quickly, noting that undernourished children with tuberculosis are susceptible to developing ‎extensive and severe complications.

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