World Pneumonia Day is annually observed across the globe on November 12 to raise awareness and educate people about Pneumonia disease, the world’s most prominent infectious death of children under the age of 5.
World Pneumonia Day 2022 focuses on “Championing the fight to stop pneumonia“.
Background;
i. World Pneumonia Day was established under the Stop Pneumonia Initiative by the Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia in 2009 to raise awareness about Pneumonia.
ii. The 1st World Pneumonia Day was observed on 12th November 2009.
Pneumonia:
Pneumonia is an acute lung illness that is caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi in the air.
- When a child is infected, their lungs are filled with fluid and it becomes difficult to breathe.
- Children whose immune systems are immature (i.e. newborns) or weakened such as by undernourishment, or diseases like HIV – are more vulnerable to pneumonia.
Stop Pneumonia Initiative:
i. Stop Pneumonia was an initiative that gave a voice to communities that suffer from the disease’s terrible effects and lack access to lifesaving interventions.
ii. The Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia, which included NGOs, academic institutions, government agencies, and foundations, led these awareness activities.
iii. The initiative drew on the contributions of advocates and health workers fighting unnecessary child deaths to showcase the effect of their work.
- It worked to educate other advocates, donors, and policymakers about the critical need for progress on pneumonia to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (reducing child mortality).
Goals:Â
- Promote actions to protect against, prevent, and treat pneumonia, highlighting proven approaches and solutions requiring more resources and attention.
- To address pneumonia and other common, but sometimes fatal, paediatric diseases, mobilise action, including continuing donor commitment.
Every Breath Counts:
The Every Breath Counts (EBC) Coalition is the world’s 1st public-private partnership to support national governments to end pneumonia deaths by 2030.
Goal of EBC Work Plan 2022: To support Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) in reducing pneumonia deaths from all causes across all ages to meet the global child pneumonia target by 2025 and the SDGs for health by 2030, and to lower the risk & impact of future respiratory pandemics.
Key Points:
i. Every year, globally, pneumonia kills over 7 lakh children under the age of 5, including over 1.53 lakh newborns, who are especially vulnerable to infection.
- At least one child dies every 45 seconds from pneumonia each day.
ii. Pneumonia accounts for 14% of all deaths of children under 5 years old, killing 740 180 children in 2019.
iii. Countries with the Largest Number of Child Pneumonia Deaths are The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
