- While detection of tuberculosis (TB) in children remains a challenge, it has now emerged that Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB is higher among children than expected.
- This has been described as a “worrying trend” by the Union Health Ministry.
- As many as 5,500 of over 76,000 children tested in nine cities have been diagnosed with TB.
- Nine per cent of these paediatric TB cases have been diagnosed to have MDR TB, according to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) that conducted the tests in collaboration with the Central TB Division under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).
Communicable Disease (Any disease transmitted from one person or animal to another)
- Children who were more prone to primary MDR infection as they were in close contact with their parents and grandparents, who would have been infected.
- “A considerable number of the 9% diagnosed to have MDR-TB are primary infections.
About FIND:
- Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) that conducted the tests in collaboration with the Central TB Division under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).
- FIND initially started a unique initiative for diagnosing paediatric TB in four cities of Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata from April 2014 with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
- It has now scaled up the project to include additional five cities —Nagpur, Surat, Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru and Guwahati.
- The aim of the project is to provide rapid access to quality TB diagnosis for all presumptive paediatric TB patients in the project intervention areas. RNTCP is committed to providing increasing access to quality TB diagnostics for the paediatric population.
About RNTCP:
- Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) is the state-run tuberculosis (TB) control initiative of the Government of India. health system.
- As per the National Strategic Plan 2012–17, the program has a vision of achieving a “TB free India”, and aims to achieve Universal Access to TB control services.
- The program provides, various free of cost, quality tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment services across the country through the government health system.
- The Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) thus formulated, adopted the internationally recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) strategy, as the most systematic and cost-effective approach to revitalise the TB control programme in India.
Source:TH
