Treating pneumonia in casual manner could affect a child severely in shape of disability to an extent of death, therefore, parents must get their children vaccinated at any EPI centres across the country with vaccine that is available free of cost, said Director National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Dr Syed Jamal Raza.
Jamal Raza while elaborating the devastation of the disease, said approximately 70 children (under the age of 5 years) die each day in Pakistan due to pneumococcal pneumonia. The natural disasters like floods, Tsunami, torrential rains, earthquakes and droughts never killed such huge number of children as did Pneumonia alone in the subcontinent or in third world countries, he added. According to the reports, Pneumonia kills an estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five years every year over the world - more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.-PR