Beyond Diagnosis: Closing the Care Gap for Children with Tuberculosis in Pakistan
Keywords:
Tuberculosis, Diagnosis, Culture, AFB SmearAbstract
A familiar and sad story plays out in the busy outpatient departments of public hospitals in Pakistan: a child diagnosed with tuberculosis is started on treatment with optimism and disappears. The child does not return for follow-up. This disconnection between care is where the childhood battle against TB is too often lost. While the national dialogue rightly acknowledges key gaps in diagnostic service delivery, the silent epidemic of children lost in the treatment cascade is an important, yet overlooked, domain in our public health response.References
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