The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination\u2019s Common Management Unit (CMU), the World Health Organization and M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res held a two-day consultation at WHO\u2019s Country Office in Islamabad to accelerate protection for an estimated 93,600 children affected by childhood tuberculosis in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Under CMU leadership and in partnership with the Pakistan Paediatric Association, the meeting focused on adapting national policies to the latest WHO guidelines and on practical steps to reach children who are currently missed by the health system. Children represent at least 14% of Pakistan\u2019s 669,000 registered TB cases; the country carries 73% of the Eastern Mediterranean Region burden and ranks fifth globally for TB incidence.<\/p>\n
Participants discussed WHO-recommended approaches including a shorter 4-month treatment regimen for eligible cases, systematic TB preventive treatment for contacts, new all-oral 6\u20139 month regimens for drug-resistant TB, and family-centred, decentralized models of care supported by treatment-decision algorithms. Lessons from MSF\u2019s TACTiC initiative were highlighted as practical evidence for integrating these measures into routine child health services.<\/p>\n
Dr Faisal Siraj, TB Programme Manager at the CMU, said Pakistan has prioritised paediatric tuberculosis as a critical programmatic gap and has advanced integrated, child-focused interventions. “The programme has advanced integrated, child-focused interventions, including standardized clinical diagnosis, systematic household contact investigation, and scale-up of TB preventive therapy, while embedding services within primary healthcare and child health platforms,” he said, noting efforts to strengthen private sector engagement and surveillance ahead of the forthcoming National Strategic Plan.<\/p>\n
Dr Florian G\u00f6tzinger, National Implementer for MSF\u2019s TACTiC initiative, emphasised the diagnostic challenges for children and the need for early treatment decisions. “Children are among the most vulnerable to developing TB because diagnosing the disease is more challenging, and the risk of severe disease is higher compared to adults,” he said. MSF and partners are rolling out new WHO diagnostic algorithms to support clinicians when laboratory confirmation is unavailable or inconclusive.<\/p>\n
Tuberculosis remains a major cause of death in Pakistan, with an estimated 51,000 deaths each year, more than 1,800 new cases emerging daily and roughly 140 deaths every day. Globally, WHO reported an estimated 1.2 million children developed TB in 2024, underscoring the urgency of better case-finding, prevention and timely treatment for children in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
WHO Deputy Representative in Pakistan Ellen Thom reiterated WHO\u2019s support for national efforts: “Protecting children from TB is not only a medical responsibility \u2014 it is a moral imperative and an investment in a healthier and more prosperous future for Pakistan.” The consultation concluded with a shared commitment to translate WHO guidance into national practice and to expand prevention, early diagnosis and family-centred care so that every child at risk is reached and treated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan, WHO and MSF move to protect 93,600 children from childhood tuberculosis with updated WHO-based treatment and prevention policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}