Every 39 seconds, a child dies of pneumonia

Research by UNICEF, the Save the Children international charity, and four other health organizations are calling on governments to increase funding for vaccines, health services and medicines to prevent and treat the disease.

" It is shocking that this preventable, treatable and easily diagnosed disease is still one of the most common deaths in infants and young children, " said Seth Berkley, president of the Global Vaccine and Vaccination Association (GAVI).

Pneumonia (pneumonia) is a disease of the lungs and respiratory system that can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. The patient fights for air while his lungs are filled with pus and fluid. Preventable vaccination, treatable antibiotics, and in severe cases oxygen, are limited in poorer countries.

More than half of the children who died of pneumonia last year died in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, most of them under two years of age.

“ Millions of children are dying for lack of vaccines, antibiotics and routine oxygen therapy. This is a forgotten global epidemic that requires urgent international action, ”said Kevin Watkins, president of Save the Children.

According to the report, pneumonia is fatal to 15 percent of those under five, yet only 3 percent of infectious disease research funding goes into this area, far less than other diseases such as malaria.

(Source: marmalade.co.uk; hirado.com | Image: pixabay.com)