Effect of Isoniazid Preventive Therapy among Children Living with HIV in Ola During Children’s Hospital-Freetown, Sierra Leone -2/10/20

Abstract

IPT is a prophylactic treatment used to stop active tuberculosis (TB), which is one of the leading causes of mortality among HIV-positive people. However, less than 30% of children living with HIV (CLHIV) are enrolled in the Isoniazid Preventive Therapy program at Ola during Children Hospital (ODCH) in Sierra Leone, indicating that many of the children may be at risk of developing active TB. Therefore, we sort to determine the effect of Isoniazid Preventive Therapy inactive TB prevention. Using census sampling technique of 323 CHLIV, a cross-sectional study design was employed. Data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square for computation of ordinal logistic regression. About 50% of the children living with HIV were in stage II of WHO HIV classification. HIV-positive children aged less than 12 weeks, children aged 1-4 years old, 5-8 years old, 9-13 years old, and more than 13 years old were more likely to experience high cases of TB prevalence (OR=2.777, p<0.05). The low tuberculosis incidence indicated that the majority of the children enrolled in ODCH did not contract TB (97%, x²=284.24, p<0.05), indicating that Isoniazid Preventive Therapy improves health outcomes. The study concludes that Isoniazid Preventive Therapy reduces the incidence of TB in children living with HIV.