Pneumonia accounts for 92,000 annual deaths of children Under-5 in Pakistan, making it the leading killer of children,' health experts said. Briefing media in connection with 'World Pneumonia Day-2016' being marked on November 12 with the theme-"Fight pneumonia-save a child", experts said, "Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs. When an individual has pneumonia, the alveoli (small sacs in lungs which fill with air when a healthy person breathes) are filled with pus and fluid, which makes breathing painful and limits oxygen intake."
President Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA), Prof Dr Tahir Masood said, "Globally, pneumonia is one of the biggest killers of children causing 16% deaths under 5 and accounting for more than 920,000 deaths. It is alarming that Pakistan is among top 5 countries which account for 99% of childhood pneumonia cases."
'Children Under-5 with severe cases of pneumonia may struggle to breathe, with their chests moving in or retracting during inhalation (known as 'lower chest wall in drawing'). Young infants may suffer convulsions, unconsciousness, hypothermia, lethargy and feeding problem,' Dr Tahir added.
He said, 'pneumonia is caused by a number of infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and fungi. The most common causes of pneumonia amongst children include: Streptococcus pneumonia and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib).
Dr Tayyaba Khawar Butt, Professor of Paediatrics, SIMS said, "Preventing children from developing pneumonia in the first place is critical to reducing its death toll. Fortunately, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (pneumonia vaccine) was introduced in Pakistan's EPI program in October, 2012, and this achievement made Pakistan to become the first South Asian country to include PCV in its national immunisation program," he added.
She regretted that despite all efforts vaccination coverage is not optimistic and a lot need to be done to increase the coverage. Parents need to be educated about getting their children vaccinated as Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases, she said.
While stressing the need of vaccination, she said that vaccines are important to fight pneumonia. Vaccines against pneumococcus, Hib, pertussis, and measles can prevent a significant portion of pneumonia cases from ever occurring,' she concluded.
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