29/09/2025
Day One Highlights | The TB and Lung Health Symposium
Day One set the tone with bold conversations that cut across science, policy, and lived experiences of TB and lung health.
>> Upstream Determinants & Burden
We reflected on the latest TB burden in Kenya and the findings of the 2024 Nairobi County Prevalence Survey — asking how far we’ve come since 2016. Speakers also shed light on the upstream drivers of TB: poverty, stigma, poor nutrition, and mental health challenges, reminding us that health solutions cannot exist in isolation from social realities.
>> Global Health Financing
In a time of shifting donor priorities, the symposium explored how Kenya can adapt. Discussions focused on bridging global innovations with local needs, aligning TB with primary health care on the path to universal coverage, and unlocking innovative financing models to sustain the fight against TB and chronic lung diseases.
>> TB Prevention Strategies
Prevention took center stage, with updates on preventive therapy for children, adult contacts, and persons living with HIV. The promise of new vaccines such as M72/AS01E was unpacked in the Kenyan context, while nutrition — often overlooked — was highlighted as a critical, low-cost frontline defense against TB.
>> Diagnostics
Finding TB faster and earlier was a recurring theme. Experts shared lessons from Kenya’s childhood TB algorithm (2022/23), the use of AI-powered digital X-rays in Siaya County, and new near point-of-care tests using non-sputum samples — all innovations bringing hope for timely diagnosis.
>> Care & Treatment
The day closed with conversations on improving care — from implementing shorter regimens for children, to addressing the gaps facing adolescents and young adults in the TB care cascade. Importantly, the call was made for TB and lung health services to be person-centered, rights-based, and gender-responsive, ensuring no one is left behind.
Day One was a powerful reminder that progress against TB and lung diseases is possible when science, financing, innovation, and human dignity come together.
The conversations don’t stop here — we continue tomorrow with even deeper discussions and insights.
Stay tuned!!!