SweetTB drugs: How Kenya is putting an end to child TB

WHO says at least 1Million children are diagnosed with the disease each year, a newly launched drug offers hope of eradicating the disease in Kenya.

When Okuku (not his real name) became ill at the beginning of the year, nothing could have prepared the mother for what awaited her.

Jane Ingato (not her real name),  a Tuberculosis (TB) survivor and mother to the five-year-old said she did not think that a common cold could end up being diagnosed as TB.

Ingato, who is a first time mother, said her son developed what she thought was the flu and that kept recurring accompanied by a fever that would not go away even with frequent hospital visits.

“I did not know it was TB that was ailing my son. He used to suffer from headaches, stomach aches, coughs with a fever that culminated into heavy sweats and he would occasionally vomit,” she said.

For seven months, the young mother took her son to a private hospital in Kangemi where she resides and the diagnosis was the same; she would be told the son was suffering from malaria, and at times pneumonia.

In August she decided to take her son to a government hospital with the hope of getting proper diagnosis of what her son was ailing from.

“When I told the doctor the symptoms my son was experiencing, he immediately referred me to the CT scan section to have his head examined. After that, the doctor prescribed drugs but instructed that I should take my son to the Kenyatta National Hospital to have him admitted since his health had deteriorated,” she recalled.

While admitted at the KNH emergency wing, Okuku underwent a series of tests and was diagnosed with TB.

“I was so happy that after seven months in and out of hospitals the doctors had finally diagnosed what my son was suffering from. I understood that it was not an ailment that would kill my baby as I too had survived it,” she said.

Okuku is one among the many children who have at one point in their lives had to bear the brunt of Pediatric TB in the country.

In 2015, Kenya reported 7,000 cases of TB in infants and children with those under five recorded as being at greatest risk of having severe forms of TB and dying from the disease.

According to World Health Organization, at least 1 million children are diagnosed with TB every year and approximately 140, 000 children die annually from the disease.

In a move aimed at realizing ‘Zero TB Deaths in Children,’ Kenya, last week, became the first country to roll out the improved pediatric TB medicines.

According to Health Cabinet Secretary Dr. Cleopas Mailu, the improved medicines are easier for caregivers to give and for children to take, and are expected to help improve treatment and child survival from TB.

Previously, caregivers had to cut or crush multiple bitter tasting pills to give children the correct dose on a daily basis for the entire six-month treatment period. This often resulted in under or over dosage which contributed significantly to treatment failure and death.

Quick Facts:

Signs and symptoms of TB disease in children include:

-  Cough;

-  Feelings of sickness or weakness, lethargy, and/or reduced playfulness;

-  Weight loss or failure to thrive;

-  Fever; and/or

-  Night sweats.

- The most common form of TB disease occurs in the lungs, but TB disease can affect other parts of the body as well. Symptoms of TB disease in other parts of the body depend on the area affected.