World Pneumonia Day is annually observed across the globe on November 12th to create awareness about pneumonia, the world’s leading infection that kills children under the age of 5.
The day also aims to promote the interventions to protect against, prevent and treat pneumonia and to highlight the proven approaches and solutions in need of additional resources and attention.
Background:
i.World Pneumonia Day was established by the Stop Pneumonia Initiative in 2009 to advocate a global action to prevent Pneumonia.
ii.The first world Pneumonia Day was observed on 12th November 2009.
Significance of World Pneumonia Day 2021:
i.The World Pneumonia Day 2021 coincides with COP 26 – the United Nations(UN) Climate Change Conference.
ii.This aims to bring together the health, air quality and climate community to tackle Pneumonia.
iii.Every Breath Counts coalition is calling on the governments with heavy burdens of pneumonia and air pollution to commit to reducing air pollution-related pneumonia deaths by 50% by 2030.
Stop Pneumonia Initiative:
i.The Stop Pneumonia Initiative, led by the Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia, is composed of NGOs, academic institutions, government agencies and foundations.
ii.Stop Pneumonia was spearheaded by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
iii.This aims to educate the advocates, donors, and policymakers on the need for progress on pneumonia to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Reducing child mortality.
Every Breath Counts Coalition:
i.Every Breath Counts Coalition is the world’s first public-private partnership supporting low- and middle-income countries to reduce pneumonia deaths, including from COVID-19.
ii.It is a coalition of UN agencies, businesses, donors and NGOs that have committed to support governments in countries with highest burdens of pneumonia.
Key Points:
i.Pneumonia is the biggest infection that kills both adults and children, in 2019, more than 2.5 million have died due to Pneumonia.
ii.In 2019, Pneumonia has killed 740180 children under the age of 5, accounting for 14% of all deaths of children under five years old but 22% of all deaths in children aged 1 to 5.
iii.Cause: Pneumonia is caused by various infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and fungi. The most common are:
- Streptococcus pneumoniae (bacterial pneumonia in children)
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) (bacterial pneumonia)
- respiratory syncytial virus (viral pneumonia)
iv.Air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for death from pneumonia.
- In 2019, Around 749200 deaths due to pneumonia (a third of all pneumonia deaths) were attributable to polluted air, the household air pollution contributed to 423000 of these deaths while outdoor air pollution contributed to 326000.