To date, tuberculosis (TB) is the deadliest infectious disease in the world impacting at least 10.8 million people in 2023. In the same year, World Health Organization (WHO) reported that up to 1.3 million children under 14 years are affected by TB. KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation kicked off 2025 working on the project “Ensure no child suffers from TB through EARLY detection, RIGHT diagnosis, and RIGHT treatment”.
The project is aimed at ensuring that children are included in every aspect of the TB care cascade and social support. The route to achieve this is through self-assessment, identifying the gaps and challenges experienced by the countries and partners regarding the implementation of WHO recommended approaches. Together with interest-holders we will plan and design a roadmap to mitigate the gaps and mobilize additional resources as needed. The experiences and best practices will be shared through regional and global webinars, publications and other dissemination formats.
The project will be conducted in Ethiopia, Chad, the Gambia, Kyrgyzstan and Tanzania.
We will utilize the KNCV Benchmarking and Planning Tool to support the aforementioned countries to mobilize and leverage funding to fill the identified gaps and overcome challenges e.g., through policy update, capacity building, provision of equipment and job aids, refresher and on the job training, etc.
The project “Ensure no child suffers from TB through EARLY detection, RIGHT diagnosis, and RIGHT treatment” is funded by Stichting voor Mondiale Tuberculose Bestrijding (SMT) and will be supported by KNCV Ethiopia (national entity), KNCV Kyrgyzstan (national entity), KNCV Tanzania (branch office) in collaboration with the National TB Programs (NTPs) in respective countries, NTP in Chad and NTP in The Gambia; WHO Secretariat on TB in children and adolescents and the Children and Adolescent TB Working Group.