Preventing pediatric tuberculosis: a randomized trial of symptom-based screening of South African children exposed to tuberculosis

Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) is highly effective at preventing tuberculosis (TB) in children living with a family member diagnosed with TB and has long been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, a range of provider and patient challenges have hampered its implementation. WHO estimates only 7 percent of child contacts of TB index cases less than five years old worldwide receive IPT.

This brief describes a SOAR study assessing whether a symptom-based screening approach by TB nurses in community health clinics is more effective than the standard of care (tuberculin skin test screening) in improving the proportion of TB-exposed children initiated on IPT.