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HEALTH: Pneumonia action falling short
BANGKOK, 11 November 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts to treat and prevent pneumonia are falling short in the 15 countries responsible for three-quarters of the world?s annual deaths from the disease, according to a ?report card? issued by the US-based International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at Johns Hopkins University.
Pneumonia kills more children under five every year ? 1.6 million ? than measles, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The report?s lead author and IVAC?s executive director, Orin Levine, said unimplemented policies were at fault. ?We have safe effective proven interventions that can decrease under-five deaths by two-thirds, but they are simply not reaching the children who need them the most.?
In its 2009 Global Action Plan for Prevention & Control of Pneumonia, the UN Children?s Fund and WHO calculated that reducing indoor air pollution, improving child nutrition, vaccination coverage and treatment could reduce deaths caused by pneumonia.
Read more, IRIN
BANGKOK, 11 November 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts to treat and prevent pneumonia are falling short in the 15 countries responsible for three-quarters of the world?s annual deaths from the disease, according to a ?report card? issued by the US-based International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at Johns Hopkins University.
Pneumonia kills more children under five every year ? 1.6 million ? than measles, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The report?s lead author and IVAC?s executive director, Orin Levine, said unimplemented policies were at fault. ?We have safe effective proven interventions that can decrease under-five deaths by two-thirds, but they are simply not reaching the children who need them the most.?
In its 2009 Global Action Plan for Prevention & Control of Pneumonia, the UN Children?s Fund and WHO calculated that reducing indoor air pollution, improving child nutrition, vaccination coverage and treatment could reduce deaths caused by pneumonia.
Read more, IRIN