Abstract:
Although there is highly effective treatment, tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death in children. In 2018, 1.2 million deaths from TB among HIV-negative individuals and 251,000 deaths among HIV-positive people were estimated. Identifying patients at risk of death during TB treatment should be a priority for proper management. It helps in assessing the needs and identifying potential interventions that contributes to the End TB Strategy of reducing TB mortality by 95%. The study assesses factors associated with mortality amongst paediatric TB patients in Blantyre and knowledge, attitude and beliefs of TB disease transmission among parents/guardians of children. This was a cross-sectional study using retrospective records review of data extracted from Helse Nord Tuberculosis Initiative (HNTI) for different health facilities in Blantyre district and a primary data collection in assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of the parents/guardians of children with TB and those with cough for more than a week at Ndirande Health Centre in Blantyre. The proportion of deaths was similar among males and females (5.1% compared to 5.6% respectively, with a P-value of 0.73). The death was higher among children of age group of 1 to 5 years with a death proportion of 6.9% compared to older children of 5-14 years (5.0%) although the results were not statistically significant P-value 0.374. Deaths numbers was higher among HIV positive children as 6.6% HIV positive children died comparing to 4.1 HIV negative patients who died with a P-value of 0.194. For the KAP study, parents/guardians had poor knowledge, attitudes and practices towards TB disease as of 150 participants interviewed in the primary data, 54.7% scored poor in knowledge, 68.7% had poor attitude and 22.0% displayed poor practices towards TB disease. There is a need to develop some effective techniques to educate the public on TB and improve the detection and management of tuberculosis in children.
