Location: Nigeria

Introduction

Child TB notification has been a critical gap in programmatic efforts, with only 35% of the estimated 58,000 children with TB being notified in Nigeria in 2022.

To address this, a five-day screening initiative was conducted across 36 states to enhance child TB detection through facility- and community-based screening of high-risk children (0-14 years).

Intervention
  • A preliminary mapping was conducted to identify targeted sites for high-risk groups, including malnourished and HIV-positive children, as well as street children and those in hard-to-reach communities.
  • Ultra-portable X-ray units (Delft Light) equipped with CAD4TB were deployed to facilitate these services.
Result
  • Over 5 days, a total of 331,595 children were screened. 91,406 were identified as presumptive TB cases, and 82,086 were further evaluated, resulting in 4,054 children being diagnosed with TB.
  • This corresponds to a yield of 4.9% among the presumptive TB cases evaluated.
Conclusion
  • The findings suggest that targeted active case finding among children can significantly bridge the gap in child TB detection.

REFERENCE: Urhioke, O. et al (2024, November 12-16). Bridging Gaps in Child TB Detection through Innovative Testing Week in Nigeria [Poster Presentation]. The Union World Conference on Lung Health, Bali, Indonesia.