Journal of Health, Medicine and Nursing www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8419 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.52, 2018 63 Trend of Childhood TB Notifications in Nigeria Haruna Ismaila Adamu 1* Ayodele O. Awe 1 Adebola Lawanson 2 Olusoji James Daniel 3 1.Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases Cluster, World Health Organization, Abuja, Nigeria 2.National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Nigeria 3.Department of Community Medicine and Primary Care, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria * E-mail of the corresponding author: adamuh@who.int Abstract Background: Childhood tuberculosis (CTB) accounted for 10% of the total global tuberculosis (TB) burden in 2017. During the same year, CTB accounted for only 6% of the total TB cases notified by the National TB control programme (NTP) in Nigeria giving credence to the widely held belief that, over the past few years, clinicians and public health officials in the country may have given more attention to the diagnosis and treatment of TB in adults compared to children, resulting in under reporting of the true burden of the disease. Thus this study assessed the trend of childhood TB notifications in Nigeria, from 2012 to 2016.Methods: Retrospective record review of childhood TB cases notified by the NTP between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016. Results: A total of 27,793 CTB cases, representing 5.8% of all forms of TB cases, were notified and treated during the study period. This proportion is more or less similar for every year within the period under review.Conclusion: The case notification rate of TB among children has plateaued within the period under review. Efforts should be made to improve CTB detection, reporting and notification into the NTP Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) system. Keywords: Tuberculosis, World Health Organization, Bauchi, Childhood TB, National TB Control Programme, Caregivers, Quality of Life, Monitoring and Evaluation, Northeastern Nigeria. 1. Introduction The World Health Organization, in its 2017 global TB report, estimated that about 1.04 million CTB cases (representing 10% of the global estimated burden of 10.4 million TB cases) occurred in 2016, out of which an estimated 210,000 cases died. However, only 358, 521 CTB cases were notified in 2014 by countries in the six WHO regions 1 , as shown in Table 1. This figure represents only 39% of the global estimated burden of 1.04 million CTB cases, leaving 641,479 CTB cases or 61% as missed or not notified. At the country level, there is need to compare expected with notified CTB cases over the years so as to determine the magnitude of missed or not notified CTB cases by the NTP, if any. This will allow for discussions on programmatic issues that may explain possible reasons for the under reporting of the CTB cases and attempt to proffer solutions on how to improve CTB notification in the country. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the trend of CTB notifications in Nigeria over a 5-year period, from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2016. Table 1 Estimated Number of Incident CTB Cases in 2014, Globally by WHO Region WHO Region Number of CTB case Notifications Best Estimate Estimated TB Incidence Uncertainty Level AFR 90,523 330,000 290,000-370,000 AMR 10,489 27,000 25,000-29,000 EMR 42,028 80,000 64,000-97,000 EUR 9,898 31,000 28,000-34,000 SEAR 168,310 340,000 310,000-370,000 WPR 37,273 150,000 130,000-170,000 Global 358,521 1,000,000 900,000-1,100,000 Note. TB = tuberculosis; AFR = African; AMR = American; EMR = Eastern Mediterranean; EUR = European; SEAR = South East Asian Region; WPR = Western Pacific Region. Adapted from “Global TB Report,” by the World Health Organization, 2015, p. 33. Reproduced with permission. 2. Methodology 2.1 Study setting Nigeria is a lower-middle-income country, having a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $481.1 billion and an estimated population of 186 million people as at 2016, comprising of 51% females and 49% males, making it the most populous country in Africa 2, 3 . Moreover, children aged 0-14 years constitute 45.7% (85 million) of the entire population, while those aged 65 years and above constitute a mere 4%, signifying that Nigeria comprises