Closing the policy-practice gap for tuberculosis preventive treatment

Tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT) is crucial in keeping people healthy following infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Children younger than 5 years and people with HIV are at high-risk of tuberculosis disease progression following infection and thus are considered high-priority populations for TPT. However, household contacts of all ages living with someone who has infectious (pulmonary) tuberculosis are at increased risk, including older children (5–9 years) and adolescents (10–19 years), who have been largely overlooked in efforts to roll out TPT.