By Kristin Ebanks, World Vision International
World Vision will help inaugurate the first annual World Pneumonia Day on November 2, 2009 to focus global attention on the leading killer disease of children.
As a member of the World Pneumonia Day Coalition, World Vision is working to raise awareness of pneumonia as a public health issue and mobilise support to fight the disease.
During the inauguration, World Vision and over 100 scientists, journalists and policymakers discussed pneumonia prevention and treatment at the World Pneumonia Day Summit in New York City, USA.
Pneumonia kills more than 2 million children every year – more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined – yet it has been dubbed the “forgotten killer” because of a lack of global attention and funding.
Preventing pneumonia deaths is central to World Vision’s core health and nutrition strategy and World Vision’s first global child health campaign, Child Health Now, which launches on November 16, 2009. The focus is on proper management of suspected pneumonia cases (e.g. recognition of danger signs and improved diagnosis) and prevention through evidence-based practices.
“Through our health strategy, we can ensure that appropriate knowledge and methods to prevent pneumonia reach the world’s most vulnerable children and prevent deaths,” said Martha Newsome, senior director for Global Health and HIV and AIDS Hope Initiatives.
By protecting children from pneumonia, and preventing and treating it when it occurs, more than 1 million children’s lives could be saved each year.
To learn more about pneumonia, click here to download a fact sheet on Pneumonia.
