Posted on November 3, 2009

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WHO, UNICEF, GAVI Alliance Announce Plans to Tackle Child Pneumonia

The World Health Organization and UNICEF have announced the launch of a comprehensive plan to help save up to 5.3 million children from dying of pneumonia by 2015. In conjunction with the effort, the GAVI Alliance has announced a commitment to immunize 130 million children in poor countries against the disease over the same period.

Announced as part of the first World Pneumonia Day on November 2, the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (23 pages, PDF) offers a three-part approach to combating the disease: providing all children with an environment in which they are at low risk of contracting pneumonia; preventing children from becoming ill with the disease by vaccinating against its causes, preventing and treating HIV, and providing zinc for children with diarrhea; and treating children who become ill with proper care and antibiotics. If the goals outlined in GAPP are reached, the WHO and UNICEF expect a 65 percent reduction in child pneumonia deaths and a 25 percent reduction in the number of severe pneumonia cases in children, compared to 2000 levels. It's estimated that the total cost of implementing GAPP in the world's sixty-eight high-burden countries between 2010 and 2015 will be $39 billion, with the annual cost expected to double over the six-year period.

To help implement GAPP, the GAVI Alliance, which was co-founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, plans to speed up the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines to children in forty-two countries through its Accelerated Vaccine Introduction initiative. The initiative also will introduce a vaccine against rotavirus, which causes diarrhea, in forty-four countries. Together, the introduction of the two vaccines could save the lives of up to 11 million children by 2030. To fund its commitment, GAVI will need to raise up to an additional $4 billion between now and 2015.

Pneumonia, a severe inflammation of the lungs usually caused by infection, is responsible for one in four child deaths worldwide, or 1.8 million children under the age of five each year, making it the biggest cause of child deaths in the world. More than 98 percent of child pneumonia deaths occur in sixty-eight developing countries. Despite its huge toll, relatively few resources are dedicated to tackling child pneumonia.

"Pneumonia is the leading cause of under-age-five mortality, killing over four thousand children every day," said UNICEF executive director Ann M. Veneman. "Effective interventions to reduce deaths caused by pneumonia must be used more widely and made more readily available for children at risk."

“Vaccination Is Essential to Prevent World's Leading Child Killer: Pneumonia.” Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization Press Release 10/30/09.

“Reducing Child Deaths From Pneumonia.” World Health Organization Press Release 11/02/09.

Primary Subject: Health
Secondary Subject(s): Children and Youth, International Affairs/Development
Location(s): International

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