Last Friday, a few ONE staff members attended the official World Pneumonia Day event in Washington, D.C., “The Faces of Pneumonia.” Emmy Award-winning journalist Cokie Roberts and Ezekiel Emanuel, health policy adviser to the Executive Office of the President, talked about ways to protect the world’s most vulnerable children from this preventable illness. The dress code to get into the event? Blue jeans, of course.
Take a look at some of our Brooke Riley’s photos from the event in the slideshow. She’s on our global health policy team and couldn’t wait to get a photo with the bright blue bodysuit-wearing Pneumonia Fighters, the official mascot of World Pneumonia Day. Be sure to read her captions — as you can already tell from the photo below, she has a little bit of explaining to do!
In honor of World Pneumonia Day, we have a very special blog post from Edward Turay, high commissioner for Sierra Leone in the UK. Mr. Turay talks about Sierra Leone’s progress in their battle against pneumonia and other diseases.
For World Pneumonia Day this year, I am speaking at the flagship UK event, which is being held in the Houses of Parliament. I will be speaking in front of an audience of parliamentarians, government representatives, leading NGOs and other interested parties, and I am proud that I will be able to relay to them the story of Sierra Leone’s progress in fighting terrible diseases such as pneumonia, the leading killer of children worldwide.
In the recent past, Sierra Leone has had some turbulence, including political instability and conflict. This was reflected in our health care outcomes. Back in 2000, during the Civil War, maternal mortality stood at 1,300 deaths per 100,000 and child mortality stood at 252 deaths per 1,000. These are staggering figures, which suggested a bleak future for my country.
More than 1.5 million kids under the age of 5 die every year from pneumonia.
Who knew?
In wealthy countries, we tend to think of pneumonia as a disease of the elderly, but pneumonia actually kills more young children than HIV, measles and malaria combined. Another child dies from pneumonia every 20 seconds.
Today is a day that’s meant to bring attention to pneumonia, the leading killer of young children. You probably didn’t wake up thinking about World Pneumonia Day, but now that you know, it’s a great opportunity to spend a few minutes to learn how you can make a difference.
Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs that makes it impossible to take in enough air to survive, and is particularly dangerous for children that are otherwise weakened by malnutrition and limited access to proper health care. It can be caused by a range of factors, some environmental (like air pollution) and others by infections. These factors can be easily addressed, so fighting pneumonia is a matter of commitment and funding. That’s where you can help.
This is the fifth in a series of commentaries contributed by the Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE). A project of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, PACE is working to ensure that existing safe and effective vaccines for pneumonia—the world’s leading childhood killer—reach all of the children who need them.
Sometimes I wish that ONE Blog readers got to decide our global health priorities. Because, as a child survival advocate, you probably already know what many policymakers do not: that pneumonia claims more young lives than any other disease. World Pneumonia Day on November 12 is a chance not only to raise awareness of this terrible disease, but to elevate proven solutions to saving children’s lives.
All told, more than 1.5 million children die needlessly from the disease every year. The source of our shame –- and our hope –- is that many of these deaths could be prevented with safe and effective vaccines. These vaccines have been routinely given to babies in rich countries such as the United States, and recent investments are allowing low-income countries such as Zimbabwe and the Gambia to finally protect their children too.
The scope of the problem cannot be overstated. One child dies from pneumonia every 20 seconds. That’s 4,300 lives lost every day. And 98 percent of these deaths occur in low-income countries. The cost of medical treatment, along with parents’ lost wages to care for their children, reinforces a poverty trap for the poorest of the poor.
As we told you earlier this week, this Friday is World Pneumonia Day. Pneumonia claims more lives than any other disease in the developing world for children under the age of five. But thankfully, it is considered one of global health’s most solvable problems.
To raise awareness on the importance of providing vaccines and antibiotics treatment for children in the developing world, here are some quick facts about the illness from WorldPneumoniaDay.org:
1. Pneumonia kills more children under the age of five than any other disease, claiming a young life every 20 seconds. That’s 4,300 young lives lost every day!
2. For every child that dies from pneumonia in the industrialized world, 2,000 more die in developing countries.
3. In these countries, children under 5 and under 2 years of age are at risk, especially in the poorest communities.
4. In fact, an estimated 98 percent of children who die of pneumonia live in developing countries.
5. Each year, there are more than 150 million episodes of pneumonia in young children in developing countries, and more than 11 million children need hospitalization for pneumonia.
6. The financial costs of pneumonia include hospital stays and medications, transportation to health centers, and the caretakers’ inability to work or take care of other family members while they are caring for a sick child. Families often must take out large loans to pay for care of their seriously ill child, which may further drag them into deep poverty.
7. Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life is an important and easy way to help protect children from pneumonia and many other diseases.
8. The treatment for most types of serious pneumonia is usually antibiotics, which typically cost less than $1 per dose.
9. Tragically, only an estimated 1 of every 5 children with pneumonia receives antibiotics.
Please spread the word and don’t forget to wear blue on Friday! To find out how you can take action, visit the World Pneumonia Day website.
Here’s a great blog post from Leith Greenslade, director on the board of GAVI Alliance’s Immunize Every Child campaign ahead of World Pneumonia Day on Friday. Effective prevention and treatment of pneumonia -– alongside efforts to improve access to other vaccines, bed nets, micronutrients, and treatments for infectious diseases -– will allow us to make major strides toward achieving MDG 4.
As welcome as the news was that 3.7 million fewer children are dying before they reach their 5th birthday, the reality is that the pace of change is nowhere near fast enough to reach Millennium Development Goal 4 by 2015.
One disease holds the key to this goal –- pneumonia –- and achieving MDG4 will depend on the degree to which pneumonia is singled out for special attention by the global health and donor communities.
Attention, everyone! This Friday is World Pneumonia Day. To help raise awareness for this worldwide movement against pneumonia — the number one killer of children in the developing world — we’ll be publishing blog posts and tweeting facts about this preventable illness throughout the week.
But first, the basics. Pneumonia is an infection that targets the lungs and fills them with liquid. It causes coughing and fever and can make breathing difficult. And worst of all, it can be deadly. In fact, it kills more children under the age of five than any other disease, claiming a young life every 20 seconds.
The disappointing part is that it’s completely avoidable. We have powerful vaccines and antibiotics to help fight pneumonia, but the problem is that they’re not reaching children in the poorest and most pneumonia-ridden countries in the world. Effective prevention and treatment of pneumonia, along with efforts to improve access to bed nets, micronutrients and treatments for infectious diseases, will allow us to make major strides toward achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 — reducing childhood mortality.
That’s why we’re taking World Pneumonia Day so seriously. It’s an opportunity to draw attention to an illness that unnecessarily claims millions of lives each year. Stay tuned to the ONE blog for more coverage around the event, and check out the World Pneumonia Day website to learn how you can get involved.
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