One child dies from Pneumonia every 20 seconds.
(Photos from Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, and elsewhere)

 

 

To focus attention on a disease that causes millions of avoidable deaths each year, MCHIP joins the global health community in recognizing November 12th as World Pneumonia Day (WPD). A serious and potentially deadly illness, pneumonia is an infection of the lungs and kills more children under the age of five than any other disease. The good news is that pneumonia is preventable—and that safe, effective and affordable tools are helping to avert and treat the disease.

While the day is being commemorated with events around the globe, MCHIP and its partners in Kenya are using the occasion to advocate for the adoption and implementation of the Kenya Action Plan for Pneumonia Prevention. With the anticipated introduction of a new formulation of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)—PCV10—into the routine childhood immunization schedule early next year, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and its partners marked the day with a number of activities:

• In anticipation of the celebrations, a local theater group displayed and distributed health messages on pneumonia prevention to mobilize communities to attend the WPD activities.
• A meeting was held for high-level stakeholders, including the Minister of Public Health (MoPH), representatives of academic institutions and partner organizations, and all major media outlets.
• The Kenya Pediatric Association gave a presentation on pneumonia prevention, control and treatment to health workers at Nairobi University.
• As the highlight of the celebrations, the MoPH and other dignitaries spoke on the grounds of Mathare North health center.
• And next week, staff from the Kenya Pediatric Association will walk around the city to advocate for pneumonia prevention and control, with expected participation from the MoPH and other dignitaries.

These activities in Kenya are part of a larger Program effort to ensure that every infant and woman of childbearing age in the developing world is fully immunized. Working with global, regional, national, and sub-national partners, the MCHIP Program provides practical, field-oriented technical analysis and support, shares information and best practices in the field of immunization with countries and partners and aims to strengthen health systems by building local capacity to offer effective and sustainable vaccination services. MCHIP provides technical support to routine immunization systems to sustain mortality reduction gains achieved through campaigns and to serve as a platform for effective introduction of new, life-saving vaccines.

World Pneumonia Day was established by the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia, a partnership that comprises more than 120 international nongovernmental organizations, faith-based groups, professional societies, and academic and medical institutions.