PMNCH Members mark World Pneumonia Day
9 NOVEMBER 2011 – More than 1.5 million children die every year from pneumonia, more than from any other disease. But a million children’s lives a year could be saved by simple interventions. Several PMNCH members are working with the Global coalition against Child Pneumonia on a campaign to mark World Pneumonia Day - WPD. PMNCH members such as GAVI Alliance and WHO are looking at what has been achieved---and what still needs to be done—to help save an estimated one million young lives annually through prevention and simple solutions like vaccines, antibiotics and breastfeeding clean indoor air.
The Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia
The Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia, formed in 2009 to raise awareness and to encourage governments to support the implementation of a range of proven measures to prevent and treat pneumonia. The Coalition coordinates both World Pneumonia Day and a yearly progress report. The 2011 Pneumonia Progress Report examines data on several key pneumonia interventions – including exclusive breastfeeding, access to a health care facility, antibiotic treatment and vaccination against pneumonia’s four leading causes – in the 15 countries with the most child pneumonia deaths.
GAVI Alliance
For the first time in history, thanks to the GAVI Alliance partners, vaccines against the leading cause of pneumonia are reaching children in developing countries at nearly the same time they reach children in high income countries. This is unprecedented. The introduction of these vaccines is a cornerstone of GAVI’s ambitious plan to ensure that all children have equal access to life-saving vaccines.
With GAVI’s support, the roll-out of the pneumococcal vaccines in developing countries began in Nicaragua in December 2010. In 2011 alone, 15 more countries have introduced pneumococcal vaccines into their national routine immunisation programmes.
In September 2011, a total of 37 countries have been approved for GAVI support to introduce pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Of these 37 countries, 18 countries were approved for 2012. This is an unprecedented ramp up.
Pneumococcal vaccines will soon be administered in more than half of GAVI eligible countries. However millions of children still do not have access to the vaccine. GAVI is working to vaccinate 90 million children in 58 countries against pneumococcal disease by 2015. This plan will be a major contribution to MDG 4 - to decrease childhood deaths by two-thirds by 2015 – that can only be achieved by an intensified effort to reduce pneumonia deaths.
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Link to GAVI’s special page on World Pneumonia Day
Read Gavi's work on pneumococcal vaccines, including stories from the field, blogs, photos and videos
World Health Organization
11 NOVEMBER 2011 | ISLAMABAD - The results of a study conducted in Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, show that children with severe pneumonia who were treated by Lady Health Workers at home with simple, oral antibiotics were more likely to get well than children who were referred to a health facility, as previously recommended by WHO.
Save the Children
11 NOVEMBER 2011 | WESTPORT, Conn. — Children treated at home for severe pneumonia by Pakistan’s “Lady Health Workers” were more likely to recover than children referred to health facilities, Save the Children found in a USAID-funded, WHO-coordinated study published in The Lancet medical journal today. The