Shorter, more effective treatment for kids with TB

Dr. Trisha Thadhani of the Doctors Without Borders Tondo project, examines a patient whose grandmother (left) has been diagnosed with TB. —EZRA ACAYAN

Within four months, a child can complete a course of treatment for tuberculosis (TB), and be considered cured. This is the goal of the new national guidelines for the treatment of nonsevere forms of TB in children, adopted by the Department of Health (DOH) based on recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO). Previous studies have shown that this shorter regimen is as effective in eligible children as the previous treatment regimen, which lasted six months.

In Districts 1 and 2 of Tondo, Doctors Without Borders and MHD have been working together on a TB project since 2022. —EZRA ACAYAN

In Tondo, Manila, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is supporting the Manila Health Department (MHD) to implement the new treatment guidelines. Over a two-day training workshop, physicians and TB nurses from 15 health centers in Tondo Districts 1 and 2 learned about chest x-ray interpretation, screening and diagnosis of TB in children, disease severity classification, and treatment.

MSF and MHD have been working together on a TB project since 2022. As of January, the project has screened 38,465 people and diagnosed 1,826 patients with TB.

Dr. Trisha Thadhani of MSF speaks during the two-day training workshop between MSF, MHD, NTP, and University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) to support effective implementation of the new treatment regimen in Tondo. —MSF

The new guidelines recommend the four-month treatment regimen 2HRZE/2HR for patients with nonsevere drug-susceptible tuberculosis, age 3 months to 16 years. This treatment regimen involves a two-month initial phase using four TB drugs, and a two-month maintenance phase, using two drugs.

The two-day training workshop was a collaboration between Doctors Without Borders, MHD, the National Tuberculosis Control Program, and the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health.