They do not have symptoms – why do they need to take medicines? Challenges in tuberculosis preventive treatment among children in Cambodia: a qualitative study

Abstract

Latent tuberculosis (TB) infection has been known as a seedbed for TB disease later in life. The interruption from latent TB infection to TB disease can be done through TB preventive treatment (TPT). In Cambodia, only 40.0% of children under five years old who were the household contacts to bacteriologically confirmed TB cases were initiated with TPT in 2021. Scientific studies of context-specific operational challenges in TPT provision and uptake among children are scarce, particularly in high TB-burden countries. This study identified challenges in TPT provision and uptake among children in Cambodia from the perspective of healthcare providers and caregivers.