Over the past 15 years, and despite many difficulties, significant progress has been made to advance child and adolescent tuberculosis (TB) care. Despite increasing availability of safe and effective treatment and prevention options, TB remains a global health priority as a major cause of child and adolescent morbidity and mortality—over one and a half million children and adolescents develop TB each year. A history of the global public health perspective on child and adolescent TB is followed by 12 narratives detailing challenges and progress in 19 TB endemic low and middle-income countries. Overarching challenges include: under-detection and under-reporting of child and adolescent TB; poor implementation and reporting of contact investigation and TB preventive treatment services; the need for health systems strengthening to deliver effective, decentralized services; and lack of integration between TB programs and child health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on case detection and treatment outcomes. Child and adolescent TB working groups can address country-specific challenges to close the policy–practice gaps by developing and supporting decentral ized models of care, strengthening clinical and laboratory diagnosis, including of multidrug-resistant TB, providing recommended options for treatment of disease and infection, and forging strong collaborations across relevant health sectors.

Introduction COVID-19 is one of the world's major health crises. The objective of this study was to determine the predictive factors of severe hypoxemia in patients hospitalized in COVID-19 health facilities in Burkina Faso. Patients and method This study was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. The data collected relate to the period of the first wave of the epidemic (March 9 to June 30, 2020). All patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the requisitioned health facilities of Ouagadougou were included in this study. Predictors of severe hypoxemia were identified using multivariate logistic regression model. Results During the study period, 442 patients were included representing 45.7% of the total number of positive patients in the whole country. The most common co-morbidities were diabetes (55; 12.4%), arterial hypertension (97; 21.9%). Severe hypoxemia (SpO2 < 90%) was observed in 64 patients (14.5%). Age over 65 years (OR = 8.24; 95% CI: 2.83 - 24.01) and diabetes (OR = 2.43; 95% CI: 1.17 - 5.06) were the predictors with the occurrence of severe hypoxemia in multivariate analysis. Conclusion The predictive factors of COVID-19 are similar in African and Caucasian populations. The surveillance of COVID-19 in risk groups should be strengthened to reduce their morbidity and mortality.

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Objectives: The survey was to determine Knowledge, attitude, and practices around bronchiectasis, as a starting point for the development of guidelines for care in African Countries. Materials and Methods: This survey was administered to non-specialist physicians in urban health centers in Burkina Faso, Uganda, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Data were anonymized and analyzed at an individual level by country and health-care setting. Results: A total of 388 participants were recruited from Ouagadougou (75/388, 19.3%), Kampala (85/388, 21.9%), Johannesburg (74/388, 19.3%), and Addis Ababa (154/388, 39.6%). Median age was 30 years, and 66% were male, with a median of 3-year medical experience. Knowledge about the definition, clinical presentation, and diagnosis of disease was good. However, guidelines for local practice were largely absent. Wide variation was reported in diagnostic and management practices. Physicians recognized the need for guidelines and further training. Conclusion: This study highlighted the lack of local guidelines for bronchiectasis care in these settings and marked variation in approaches to investigation, diagnosis, and management within and between sites. Context-appropriate guidelines for bronchiectasis care in Sub-Saharan Africa are needed. These must be informed by local epidemiology, should reflect locally available resources and comorbidities including tuberculosis-disease, and should be codeveloped with local practitioners.