Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies (JSSHRS) · Research article · Open access
Closing the Missing Children Gap: Paediatric Tuberculosis Case-Finding Through School-Based, Child-Led Screening in Kakamega, Kenya
PhD Francis O. Barasa, Dennis Amunga, Leonard Kibebe
27 August 2026 · Vol. 2, Issue 8, pp. 1591-1596
DOI: 10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27
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What is this article about?
Kenya's NTLD-P targets children as 10–15% of all notified tuberculosis (TB) cases, a target the country has struggled to meet. This study examines the paediatric TB care cascade generated by the Kenya Innovation Challenge Tuberculosis (KIC-TB) project's school-based, child-led screening model in Kakamega, asking whether it displays the sex-based inequity previously documented among adults reached by the same programme, and whether its paediatric contribution meets national case-finding benchmarks.
Article at a glance
- Published
- 27 August 2026
- Volume / issue / pages
- Vol. 2, Issue 8, pp. 1591-1596
- ISSN
- 3051-3561 (online) · 3051-3553 (print)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 — free to read and reuse with attribution
- Peer review
- Double-blind, at least two independent reviewers
- Publisher
- EP Journals Group
Abstract
Kenya's NTLD-P targets children as 10–15% of all notified tuberculosis (TB) cases, a target the country has struggled to meet. This study examines the paediatric TB care cascade generated by the Kenya Innovation Challenge Tuberculosis (KIC-TB) project's school-based, child-led screening model in Kakamega, asking whether it displays the sex-based inequity previously documented among adults reached by the same programme, and whether its paediatric contribution meets national case-finding benchmarks. This is a retrospective, descriptive and analytical study of programmatic screening data from the NFM3 funding phase (July 2021–June 2024), the period for which complete, sex-disaggregated paediatric records are available. The care cascade: screened, presumptive, investigated, diagnosed, and linked to treatment was analysed by sex using chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, and benchmarked against national and global literature. Of 266,943 children screened, 214 were diagnosed with TB (117 bacteriologically confirmed) and all were linked to treatment (100%). No significant sex difference was found at any cascade stage (all p > 0.17). Children accounted for 23.2% of all TB cases diagnosed, exceeding national targets, with bacteriological confirmation (54.7%) above typical global figures (20–30%), though the number needed to screen (1,247) exceeded the pooled global school-setting estimate (464). School-based, child-led screening can close a meaningful share of Kenya's paediatric case-finding gap without introducing sex-based inequity, and current evidence supports expanding this channel rather than treating it as an unproven pilot.
Keywords: paediatric tuberculosis, case detection gap, school-based screening, child-led screening, Kenya, care cascade, gender equity, active case-finding
Cite this article
PhD Francis O. Barasa, Dennis Amunga, & Leonard Kibebe (2026). Closing the Missing Children Gap: Paediatric Tuberculosis Case-Finding Through School-Based, Child-Led Screening in Kakamega, Kenya. Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies, 2(8), 1591-1596. https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27
@article{PhD2026,
title = {Closing the Missing Children Gap: Paediatric Tuberculosis Case-Finding Through School-Based, Child-Led Screening in Kakamega, Kenya},
author = {PhD Francis O. Barasa and Dennis Amunga and Leonard Kibebe},
journal = {Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies},
year = {2026},
volume = {2},
number = {8},
pages = {1591-1596},
doi = {10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27},
url = {https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27}
}Questions about this article
Who wrote this article?
PhD Francis O. Barasa, Dennis Amunga, Leonard Kibebe.
Where and when was it published?
In Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies, Volume 2, Issue 8, pages 1591-1596, published by EP Journals Group on 27 August 2026.
Is this article free to read?
Yes. It is open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) licence, so anyone can read, share and reuse it with attribution.
What is the DOI of this article?
10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27 (https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27).
How do I cite this article?
APA: PhD Francis O. Barasa, Dennis Amunga, & Leonard Kibebe (2026). Closing the Missing Children Gap: Paediatric Tuberculosis Case-Finding Through School-Based, Child-Led Screening in Kakamega, Kenya. Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies, 2(8), 1591-1596. https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E8/2026-27
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