2019 Annual meeting

The Child and Adolescent TB Working Group

The annual meeting of the Child and Adolescent TB Working Group took place on Wednesday 30 October 2019 in Hyderabad, India just prior to the 50th Union Conference and was attended by over 110 participants. The annual meeting provides a forum for exchange of global developments and country experiences. The meeting started with a report from the vice chair on the data as included in the Global TB Report 2019 and activities of the working group since the last meeting in October 2018. Anna Scardigli then gave a presentation on the new Global Fund cycle including opportunities for childhood TB. We then had a thematic session on screening, contact investigation and prevention chaired by Connie Erkens of the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation. It included a presentation by Aimé Loando (EGPAF) on “Improving childhood TB detection through facility-based integrated approaches in Kinshasa, DRC”; a presentation by Leonardo Martinez (Standford University) on “Paediatric TB transmission outside the household” with Ben Marais as discussant; a presentation by Nicole Ritz (University of Basel) on “TB screening in migrant children”; and, a presentation by Jyoti Mathad (Weill Cornell) on “Maternal TB and implications for neonates”. The thematic session ended with a panel discussion on contact investigation and prevention during which Moorine Sekadde childhood TB focal point from Uganda, Tilaye Gudina childhood TB focal point from Ethiopia, Monica Dias (PPM Roadmap), and Nyan Win Phyo, WHO Civil Society Task Force member from Thailand shared their experiences. Simon Schaaf concluded this session with a few words about the TB CHAMP trial on TB preventive treatment for contacts of patients with DRTB. In the afternoon, Prof Kabra (India), Edine Tiemersma (KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation), Olivier Marcy (University of Bordeaux), Pamela Nabeta (FIND), Hannah Kirking (CDC) and James Seddon (Imperial College & Desmond Tutu TB Centre) shared developments in diagnosis of TB in children and adolescents during a panel session moderated by Steve Graham on new diagnostic tools as well as use of alternative specimens. A third session was organized around developments in the treatment of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB. Tony Garcia Prats announced, “BENEFIT Kids”, the new Unitaid paediatric MDR-TB project, and placed a call for individual patient data. Di Gibb and Vidya Mave provided an update on the SHINE trial, a phase III randomised trial of treatment shortening in children with minimal TB disease. Alena Skrahina gave a presentation on the use of new drugs for children with DRTB in Belarus. James Seddon provided an overview of 34 recent peer-reviewed articles that should “not be missed”, highlighting different aspects of ending TB in children and adolescents. Finally, Martina Penazzato announced the upcoming TB/HIV meeting hosted by the Vatican in April 2020 (Rome 5). In the closing session, the Secretariat acknowledged the continuing financial support from USAID through UNOPS.

Final Report

Presentations