Tuberculosis in children and adolescents in the US remains a serious medico-biological and social problem, the significance of which has significantly increased in the conditions of the tuberculosis epidemic. The increase in the incidence of children and adolescents occurs in parallel with the dynamics of these indicators in adults but, at the same time, has significant differences. The state of health of children is a reflection, a consequence of the adult population’s global social, environmental, and medical problems.
As a result of biological features, the adaptive capabilities of the child’s body are limited, and the sensitivity to exogenous and endogenous factors is increased. Therefore, children are the first to react to socio-economic adversity, and their health is a kind of indicator of the epidemic state of society (Hamada et al. 785). The increase in the morbidity of the adult population during the epidemic caused an increase in the level of tuberculosis infection in children and adolescents. Hence, in the US context, it may be reasonable to create – a temporary or permanent – governmental body that will specialize particularly in dealing with tuberculosis in children and adolescents, undertaking essential measures, and developing related policies.
The described issue is a pressing problem for American society, and bringing it to the political agenda is crucial. In this vein, an efficient way should be sound and complex to deliver the issue to policymakers. Particularly, the first step will be to arrange a council that will involve recognized scholars and practitioners from the field. Such a council will be transmitted on YouTube and shared on social media. It will be in the form of sequential reports from the participants, who will deliver the findings of their studies. In conjunction, the mentioned professionals will provide a comprehensive report with a great extent of quantitative and qualitative data. This report will be a foundation for a petition to the government to establish the mentioned body responsible for guiding and financing the struggle against tuberculosis in children and adolescents in the US.
The following factors seem the most important to consider to ensure that the institution’s establishment is successful. Its founding documents and agenda are to be founded on areas that will be specified below. Within three months after the reorganization, anti-tuberculosis institutions must restructure their network, number of beds and staff, determine areas of activity depending on the registered number of patients, and identify trends in epidemiological indicators of tuberculosis. Depending on the number of children with tuberculosis, they should redistribute physicians and nurses from inpatient to outpatient departments.
The activities of the service should be integrated with the activities of primary medical care, AIDS centers, and public organizations that provide medical and social assistance. Moreover, the system of anti-tuberculosis medical care for the population envisages the creation of a single system of service provision, including laboratory diagnostics. Prevention of tuberculosis, detection of patients with this disease, diagnosis, treatment, and medical and social rehabilitation of tuberculosis patients should be carried out according to current clinical protocols for tuberculosis (Huynh and Marais). Outpatient or inpatient treatment of a patient with tuberculosis should include antimycobacterial treatment of the main disease and its complications, treatment of concomitant pathology and its complications, surgical and symptomatic treatment, as well as medical and social rehabilitation of patients against the background of psychological, consultation, social and other services.
In the future, the specified institution will become the customer of services in the system of anti-tuberculosis medical care for the population. Treatment of tuberculosis patients at the outpatient stage will involve the conclusion of a contract with providers of outpatient anti-tuberculosis medical care services for the population. For each case of treatment of tuberculosis in outpatient conditions, it is mandatory to conclude contracts on the medical care of the population with the body.
Implementing the specified strategy will allow achieving the action plan’s goals to fight tuberculosis in the European region for the next ten years. By 2035, it is necessary to reduce mortality from tuberculosis by 95 percent compared to 2022 to achieve an incidence rate of less than 10 per 100,000 population and a zero level of suffering from tuberculosis. Achieve zero TB mortality, zero TB incidence, and zero TB suffering by 2050. The ultimate goal is to stop the TB epidemic on the basis of the strategy and ensure that no TB family suffers the catastrophic costs associated with the disease. The institution will have a department responsible for transparent reporting on a monthly basis. This will allow an understanding of the progress in terms of reaching the formulated aims. The suggested idea seems to be a good foundation for dealing with tuberculosis in the long run.
Works Cited
Hamada, Yohhei, et al. “HIV-Associated Tuberculosis.” International Journal of STD & AIDS, vol. 32, no. 9, 2021, pp. 780–790.
Huynh, Julie, and Ben J. Marais. “Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Infection and Disease in Children: A Review of New and Repurposed Drugs.” Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease, 2019, doi:10.1177/2049936119864737.