WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis: module 5: management of tuberculosis in children and adolescents

Overview

The WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 5: Management of tuberculosis in children and adolescents is the practical implementation guide to the 2022 WHO guidelines on the management of tuberculosis in children and adolescents. This handbook is part of a modular series of operational handbooks designed to facilitate the uptake and implementation of WHO recommendations as part of the programmatic management of TB in children (0-< 10 years) and adolescents (10-19 years included). It covers the full cascade of care, including TB screening, prevention, diagnostic approaches and treatment of TB, as well as special situations and models of care for TB service delivery.

The practical guidance in the operational handbook aims to inform the development or revision of national policies and related implementation guidance on the management of TB in children and adolescents under programmatic circumstances and at different levels of the health system. The operational handbook can also help countries adequately plan for the uptake of interventions to better address the specific needs of children and adolescents with or at risk of TB. It can contribute to national efforts to build capacity among national and subnational programme managers and among health workers at all levels of the health care system.

The intended audience for this operational handbook includes staff from national TB programmes and other health programmes who provide care for children and adolescents with or at risk of TB, including maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health programmes, HIV services, and primary health care programmes. The operational handbook also targets health care workers in the public and private sectors, school health services, civil society and community-based organizations, health care educators and technical and implementation partners.

The operational handbook and associated guidelines replace the “Guidance for national TB programmes on the management of tuberculosis in children, second edition (2014).”

Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and curable disease, but it continues to impact the lives and development of millions of children and adolescents. Children and young adolescents aged under 15 years represent about 11% of all TB cases globally. This means 1.1 million children and young adolescents aged under 15 years fall ill with TB every year.