Treatment of childhood tuberculosis in India

With a quarter of the global burden of tuberculosis (TB) occurring in India, children in this country are at high risk of tuberculous infection and TB disease. India's Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme provides free diagnosis and treatment for children with TB using quality assured, weight-based individual drug boxes. Guidelines have recently been revised, updating both the diagnostic algorithm and shifting to a daily regimen with World Health Organization recommended dosages using child-friendly, fixed-dose combination pills. Active case finding is practised in households of TB patients as well as among human immunodeficiency virus infected and malnourished children. More attention needs to be paid to the provision of preventive therapy for household contacts aged <6 years as well as to the detection of multidrug-resistant TB among children. Case notification and the use of the Standards of TB Care in India are being strengthened in the private sector.