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OPTIMIZING THE IMPLEMENTATION AND SCALE-UP OF THE WHO TB TREATMENT DECISION ALGORITHMS FOR CHILDREN WITH PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Project description

Treatment algorithms for childhood tuberculosis

Every year, over 60 % of children with tuberculosis (TB) remain undiagnosed, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization recommends using treatment-decision algorithms (TDAs) for diagnosing TB in children under 10, but evidence supporting this recommendation is limited. The EU-funded OPTIC-TB project aims to improve paediatric TB detection rates and research capacity in Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The project will compare the effectiveness of TDAs with the standard of care in routine clinical settings, identify the processes and contextual factors affecting the implementation and effectiveness of TDAs, and evaluate the costs, cost-effectiveness, and population-level impact of TDA strategies on the burden of TB.

Objective

Every year, about a million children under 15 years are diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, and about a quarter die. However, over 60% of children with TB remain undiagnosed, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for about 20% of the global burden of paediatric TB cases. In 2022, WHO issued an interim general recommendation to use integrated Treatment-Decision Algorithms (TDAs) to diagnose TB in children under 10 years. However, this recommendation was based on very low certainty of evidence. Therefore, we are seeking funding to address four objectives: 1) To compare the effectiveness of TDAs and the Standard of Care in routine clinical settings 2) To identify processes and contextual factors that influence the effectiveness and fidelity in the implementation of TDAs 3) To compare the costs, cost-effectiveness, and the population level impact of the TDA strategies on the burden of TB and 4) To validate the diagnostic performance (sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values) of the TDAs in various health system settings and clinical context. A four-year pragmatic open-label cluster randomized controlled trial will be conducted in 120 primary health facilities in Tanzania, Uganda, and DR Congo. The primary outcome is the proportion of children detected and initiated on TB treatment. About 60,000 children with presumptive TB will be screened. We anticipate that this project will yield results that address the issue of low detection rates of paediatric TB in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, build research capacity in conducting implementation research in low-income countries, and foster networking and collaboration between the partner institutions.

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HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2023-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 705 275,00
Address
MUSEPLASSEN 1
5020 Bergen
Norway

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Region
Norge Vestlandet Vestland
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 705 275,00

Participants (5)

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