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Pneumonia, leading cause of child deaths

Investing $39 billion in preventing and treating pneumonia, the disease that is the world¡¯s leading killer of young children, could save up to 5.3 million lives by 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations children¡¯s fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

Here are some details about a global action plan its costs:

THE PLAN:

· WHO and UNICEF developed the Global Action Plan for the prevention and control of Pneumonia (GAPP). GAPP aims to increase awareness of pneumonia as a major cause of child death and spur action to deal more effectively with the problem.

WHAT IS PNEUMONIA?

· Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that can be caused by bacteria, viruses and fungi. Its severity can be based on the type of organism causing it. * Signs of pneumonia can include coughing, fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, rapid breathing or shortness of breath, chills, or chest pain.

· When bacteria, viruses or, rarely, fungi living in your nose, mouth, sinuses, or the environment spread to your lungs, you can develop pneumonia or other infections. You can catch the bacteria or viruses from people who are infected with them, whether they are sick or not.

THE TOLL:

· Pneumonia kills more children under five years of age than any other illness in every region of the world. Of the estimated total of 9 million child deaths in 2007, around 20 percent or 1.8 million, were due to pneumonia.

· Mortality due to childhood pneumonia is strongly linked to malnutrition, poverty and inadequate access to health care. Consequently, more than 98 percent of pneumonia deaths in children occur in 68 countries where progress in reducing under-five mortality is most critical.

THE COSTS:

· The cost of implementing the GAPP interventions in 68 high child mortality countries will be $39 billion for 2010 to 2015.

· Half of that is for scaling up these interventions in China ($13 billion) and India ($7 billion).

· For the 68 countries, the costs will double over the 6-year period rising from an annual need of $3.8 billion in 2010 to $8.0 billion by 2015.

· The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) said on Friday ¨ûID:nLU608764¨ü it was seeking it was seeking $4 billion in funds to vaccinate as many as 130 million of the world’s poorest children against diarrhoea and pneumonia.