While overall death rates of tuberculosis (TB) dropped by 40 percent during the past two decades, childhood TB were often neglected, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, calling for improved diagnosis to TB among children.

According to the WHO, at least half a million babies and children become ill with TB each year and as many as 70,000 are estimated to die of the disease. Children under 3 years of age and those with severe malnutrition or compromised immune systems are at greatest risk for developing TB.

TB often goes undiagnosed in children from birth to 15 years old because they lack access to health services, or because the health workers who care for them are unprepared to recognize the signs and symptoms of TB in this age group.

"With better training and harmonization of the different programs that provide health services for children, serious illness and death from TB could be prevented in thousands of children every year," the WHO said.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet