Declining Trends in Childhood TB Notifications and Profile of Notified Patients in the City of Harare, Zimbabwe, from 2009 to 2018

Globally, childhood tuberculosis (TB among those aged <15 years) is a neglected component of national TB programmes in high TB burden countries. Zimbabwe, a country in southern Africa, is a high burden country for TB, TB-HIV, and drug-resistant TB. In this study, we assessed trends in annual childhood TB notifications in Harare (the capital of Zimbabwe) from 2009 to 2018 and the demographic, clinical profiles, and treatment outcomes of childhood TB patients notified from 2015–2017 by reviewing the national TB programme records and reports. Overall, there was a decline in the total number of TB patients (all ages) from 5,943 in 2009 to 2,831 in 2018. However, the number of childhood TB patients had declined exponentially 6-fold from 583 patients (117 per 100,000 children) in 2009 to 107 patients (18 per 100,000 children) in 2018. Of the 615 childhood TB patients notified between 2015 and 2017, 556 (89%) patient records were available. There were 53% males, 61% were aged <5 years, 92% were new TB patients, 85% had pulmonary TB, and 89% were treated for-drug sensitive TB, 3% for drug-resistant TB, and 40% were HIV positive (of whom 59% were on ART). Although 58% had successful treatment outcomes, the treatment outcomes of 40% were unknown (not recorded or not evaluated), indicating severe gaps in TB care. The disproportionate decline in childhood TB notifications could be due to the reduction in the TB burden among HIV positive individuals from the scale up of antiretroviral therapy and isoniazid preventive therapy. However, the country is experiencing economic challenges which could also contribute to the disproportionate decline in childhood TB notification and gaps in quality of care. There is an urgent need to understand the reasons for the declining trends and the gaps in care.