Every minute, a child dies of pneumonia in India

[Ronan Kelly]

Every minute, a kid dies of pneumonia
Nirmala M Nagaraj, TNN 2 November 2009, 02:26am IST|

BANGALORE: India looks indeed like a leading Third World country: malnourished children breathe polluted air and suffer from lack of nutrition and
hygiene. It leads the world with 27% of the global pneumonia cases. Worse, every minute, a child dies of pneumonia in India, followed by Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Annually, two million children under five die from it, and pneumonia contributes to almost 20% of childhood mortality cases ? more than AIDS, measles and malaria combined. So says WHO data published in the Lancet Journal in Sept.
WHAT CAUSES PNEUMONIA?
In India, the main culprit is malnourishment ? here, 47% of the paediatric population suffers from low immune systems.
?Lack of good nutrition, polluted air and poor hygiene are the main causes of pneumonia. Premature babies are at higher risk, so by improving maternal nutrition, low-birth premature babies can be prevented and by tackling malnourishment, improving immune system and controlling air pollution, pneumonia can be prevented. Better access to antibiotics can control mortality due to the disease,? said Dr H Paramesh, national president for respiratory disease chapter of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

Environmental factors have increased a child?s susceptibility, especially among in homes, exposed to pollution caused by using biomass fuels for cooking and parental smoking habits. India accounts for 40% of worldwide childhood pneumonia cases, and among children who survive Hib meningitis, 30% suffer from disabilities.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...kid-dies-of-pneumonia/articleshow/5187481.cms

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Every minute, a child dies of pneumonia in India

PNEUMONIA KILLS 5 MN CHILDREN WORLDWIDE EVERY YEAR

HYDERABAD, Nov 2 (NNN-PTI): A child dies every minute in India due to pneumonia, especially those under five years, experts said Monday.

Nearly 150 million cases are reported around the world this year, of which five million, mainly children have died from sub-Saharan and south Asian region

Dr Sudershan Reddy, president, IAP said that pneumonia is common upto five years of age and a whopping five million children die around the world every year due to it.

Stating that there are different types of pneumonia, Reddy pointed that as many as 50 children die daily due to pneumonia in Andhra Pradesh alone.

Nearly five million children are killed every year around the world due to pneumonia, which claims more lives than AIDS, measles and malaria put together, he said
http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=99992

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Every minute, a child dies of pneumonia in India

A quarter of total deaths from pneumonia among children occur in India: survey
Aarti Dhar

Report reveals the need to reach target levels of coverage for life-saving interventions

India has the highest number of pneumonia-related deaths in the world

Only three countries reported coverage above the target level of 90 per cent for any vaccine


NEW DELHI: Pneumonia, which is the world's leading infectious killer among children, claims the lives of nearly 1.6 million children under five every year, with more than 3,70,000 or nearly one-quarter of deaths occurring in India alone.
A Pneumonia Report Card released by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC), on behalf of the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia, evaluates prevention, protection and treatment efforts in India and in 14 other countries with the most child pneumonia deaths against the pneumonia intervention targets established in the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) issued by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in 2009.

The report card reveals the need for urgent efforts in India to reach target levels of coverage for the life-saving interventions that can prevent, protect against and treat pneumonia in children. India has the highest number of pneumonia-related deaths in the world.

continues at; http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/18/stories/2010111858642000.htm