Pneumonia is the single biggest infectious killer of adults and children – claiming the lives of 2.5 million, including 672,000 children, in 2019. This year, World Pneumonia Day, on 12 November 2023, we are taking stock of progress.
Vaccination
60% of children are now protected with one of the most powerful pneumonia-fighting vaccines – the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV. A dramatic increase in coverage (almost ten percentage points) has been achieved in the last two years as India and Indonesia roll out this vaccine. With other countries losing many children to pneumonia poised to introduce the PCV – including Chad, Guinea, South Sudan, and Somalia – the global target of 90% coverage by 2030 is getting closer.
Nutrition
Almost half of all babies in the world are being exclusively breastfed in the first six months of life bringing the Global Nutrition Target of 50% by 2025 within reach. Child malnutrition, and especially wasting, is the greatest risk factor for death from pneumonia among children. Women need a lot of support to breastfeed exclusively for six months. They need to maintain a healthy diet, workplaces that enable breastfeeding and/or pumping and storage, access to pumps and other breastfeeding supportive technologies, and supportive family members.
Air pollution
More than 70% of households now use clean fuels and technologies for cooking reducing the risk of household air pollution-related pneumonia deaths. In 2019, household air pollution contributed to 423,000 pneumonia deaths and is the leading risk factor for death from pneumonia across all age groups. Children are more susceptible to household air pollution in homes that regularly use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, heating, and lighting.
Pulse oximetry and medical oxygen
Pulse oximetry and medical oxygen are now more available than ever before, especially in low resource hospitals, due to the support that was provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. The international oxygen emergency response mobilized more than $US1 billion to help more than 100 low- and middle-income countries increase access to pulse oximetry and oxygen. Those same countries are now repurposing the COVID-19 equipment to meet the needs of other patients in their healthcare systems from the tiniest newborn in respiratory distress, to the elderly patient with COPD.
Child survival
Most countries (72%) are actually on track to achieve the Child Survival Sustainable Development Goal 3.2. This means they will have reduced child deaths to less than 25 for every 1,000 babies born by 2030. This is a remarkable achievement and leaves just 54 countries who are off-track, 80% in Africa. A new, more targeted effort to help these off-track countries can yield great results and it has already begun – the Child Survival Action agenda. Read more here.
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