| dc.description.abstract |
Setting Children especially those <5 years of age
exposed to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) are at a high
risk of severe TB disease and death. Isoniazid preventive
therapy (IPT) has been shown to decrease disease
progression by up to 90%. Kenya, a high TB burden
country experiences numerous operational challenges
that limit implementation of TB preventive services. IPT
completion in child contacts is not routinely reported in
Kenya.
Objective This study aims to review the child contact
management (CCM) cascade and present IPT outcomes
across 10 clinics in western Kenya.
Design A retrospective chart review of programmatic data
of a TB Reach-funded active, clinic-based CCM strategy.
Results Of 553 child contacts screened, 231 (42%) were
reported symptomatic. 74 (13%) of the child contacts were
diagnosed with active TB disease. Of those eligible for IPT,
427 (90%) initiated IPT according to TB REACH project
data while 249 (58%) were recorded in the IPT register
with 49 (11%) recorded as a transfer to other facilities.
Of the 249 recorded in the IPT register, 205 (82%) were
documented to complete therapy (48% of project initiation
children).
Conclusion Our evaluation shows gaps in the
routine CCM care cascade related to completeness
of documentation that require further programmatic
monitoring and evaluation to improve CCM outcomes. |
en_US |