Mortality Rates of Childhood Pneumonia Need to be Tackled

The International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) has revealed that the Indian health ministry has to do a lot more in order to bring down the mortality rate among children who suffer from pneumonia. India boasts of the largest number of child deaths due to pneumonia after latest stats revealed that more than 370,000 children under the age of five die annually due to poor medical treatment available.

With just five years remaining for the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) millennium development goals (MDG), the IVAC has said that India has to do more if it is to achieve the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) goals through which at least 90 percent coverage of pneumonia related intervention is achieved by 2015.

Speaking out against the poor medical facility available for children, the Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP) President, Dr Panna Choudhry said “Too many children have died before my eyes because they can’t get to a health facility in time or once they arrive they don’t have access to antibiotics.”




Source-Medindia