Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis in Pakistan: Are national guidelines used by private healthcare providers?

Background The National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) in Pakistan developed, with the Pakistan Paediatric Association, a pediatric scoring chart to aid diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis (TB). Our study compared the diagnostic practice of private healthcare providers in Pakistan with the NTP guidelines. Methods A cross-sectional study comparing diagnosis of TB in children Results A total of 5193 (79.7% of presumptive childhood TB cases identified in the selected districts during the study) children were diagnosed with TB by Non-NTP private providers. A strong clinical suspicion of TB was present in 17.3%, and chest x-ray was suggestive of TB in 34.3%. The Kappa score between Non-NTP private providers and the NTP guidelines for diagnosing TB was 0.152. Only 47.8% of cases were diagnosed in line with the NTP guidelines. Children Conclusion This study indicates a low adherence of NTP guidelines for diagnosing childhood TB by private providers in Pakistan.