'Urgent Action Needed' to Protect Children from TB, WHO Says
WHO also released a global TB report Tuesday showing that after years of progress, the number of people falling ill with TB has stopped declining.
GENEVA - The World Health Organization stressed the need to improve prevention, treatment and care for tuberculosis in children and adolescents, who experience a "disproportionate burden" of the curable disease, writes Meclina Chirwa.
"It is unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents worldwide still do not have access to life-saving TB prevention, treatment and care," said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, director of WHO's Global TB Programme.
Speaking Tuesday at a global TB conference in Paris, Kasaeva said WHO shared a new roadmap that outlines a five-year plan with 10 key actions to boost TB prevention, treatment and care for young people under age 20.
"The new roadmap lays the groundwork for much needed actions over the next five years," she said, building on commitments world leaders made at a U.N. meeting last year.
WHO estimates 1.25 million children and adolescents were sickened with TB in 2022, making up 12% of the global TB burden. Yet children and adolescents often receive inadequate care or no care at all, the agency said.
The roadmap calls for improving tracking of TB cases in young people, ensuring access to proper medicines and addressing stigma and discrimination that deter families from seeking care.
"We need urgent action to protect children and adolescents," Kasaeva said.
WHO also released a global TB report Tuesday showing that after years of progress, the number of people falling ill with TB has stopped declining.