The Evening Standard 13-14 December 2005 Prepared by Tessa Wardlaw, Emily White Johansson

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The Evening Standard
13-14 December 2005Prepared by
Tessa Wardlaw, Emily White Johansson Matthew
Hodge Volume 1, Number 1
Pneumonia kills more children than any other
illness more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles
combined13 Dec UNICEF reports that pneumonia
is the leading killer of children, accounting
for almost 1 in every 5 child deaths worldwide.
(Read more about it in Pneumonia The Leading
Killer of Children)
Undernutrition is implicated in 53 of under five
deaths.

• Three essential steps to reduce pneumonia deaths
• Recognize a child is sick
• Seek appropriate care
• Receive treatment with antibiotics

Neonatal pneumonia/sepsis is estimated to
account for 26 of all neonatal deaths. If these
deaths were included in the overall estimate,
pneumonia would account for up to 3 million
under five deaths each year.
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia bear the burden
of more than half of all pneumonia episodes
worldwide. 13 Dec More than 150 million
episodes of pneumonia occur each year in the
developing world. And just 15 countries account
for three-quarters of all pneumonia cases.

Effective interventions are available but reach
too few children13 Dec Only about 1 in 5
caregivers know the danger signs of pneumonia.
Only about half of children with pneumonia are
taken to a medical provider, and far fewer
received treatment with antibiotics.
Reducing pneumonia deaths is a public health
bargain 13 Dec Preliminary estimates suggest
that more than 700,000 lives could be saved if
90 of children with pneumonia were properly
diagnosed and treated with antibiotics. In
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia alone, 580,000
lives could be saved at a cost of around 170
million.Important note preliminary estimates