JOIN USPneumonia, the respiratory infection of the lung, is still among the leading killers of children globally – accounting for 15 per cent of deaths, or approximately 9,40,000 children per year. But deaths from the disease have declined by 44 per cent since 2000, according to figures released recently by The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
on World Pneumonia Day observed recently.
India accounts for the highest number of under-five deaths in the world, with 1.34 million children dying every year. Pneumonia contributes to 23 per cent of total under-five deaths in India. Each year there are 35 million episodes of pneumonia, of which approximately 3,88,100 result in child deaths.
“Pneumonia is still a very dangerous disease. It kills more children under five than HIV/AIDS, malaria, injuries and measles combined. And though the numbers are declining, with nearly one million deaths a year, there is no room for complacency,” said Dr Mickey Chopra, head of UNICEF’s global health programmes. “Poverty is the biggest risk factor, and that means our efforts need to reach every child, no matter how marginalised.”
Deaths from pneumonia are highest in poor rural communities. Household air pollution is a major cause of pneumonia, so children from households which rely on biomass fuels such as kerosene, wood, dung or charcoal for cooking or heating, are at
high risk.
Overcrowded homes also contribute to higher pneumonia levels. In addition, poor children are less likely to be immunised against measles and whooping cough, which are also among major causes of the disease. The increased use of vaccines against pneumonia, particularly in low income countries has led to progress against the disease, but inequities exist even in countries with wide coverage.
“Closing the treatment gap between the poor and the better-off is crucial to bringing down preventable deaths from pneumonia,” Dr Chopra said. “The more we focus on the causes and the known solutions, the faster we will bring this childhood scourge under control.”
According to a report released by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health ‘Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report 2014’, India, is the country with the greatest number of child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea and continues to struggle with improving rates of basic childhood immunisations.
No improvements were seen in India’s pertussis and measles coverage.
However, the government has recently launched an Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD). The plan is being targeted in four states which account for more than half of under-five deaths, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The strategy involves several sectors and is based on an integrated approach
of protection, prevention and treatment.
However, as per the IVAC report, the rollout of Hib (pentavalent) vaccine in
select states, which began at the end of 2011, only achieved 20 per cent national coverage by 2013. In 2014, additional states have introduced pentavalent vaccine, but the rollout is not expected to be complete until 2015, four years after the first state introduction.
Symptoms of pneumonia are cough, often with mucus, difficulty in breathing, fast breathing, chest in-drawings (seeing ribs when child inhales), wheezing or grunting, fever, chills, poor feeding, fatigue, irritability and poor sleeping.
Ironically, across the globe, every 20 seconds, a mother and father lose their young child to one of this deadly but preventable disease.