Email This StoryA day to fight children's main killer
Nov. 3, 2009
World Pneumonia Day seeks to bring about more awareness
By Trent Goldston
Staff Writer
Health organizations around the globe convened Monday in support of the first World Pneumonia Day.
The day is an effort to tackle the world's leading killer of young children by raising awareness and donations to support the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia.
According to the World Pneumonia Day coalition, pneumonia kills more than 2 million children annually, and is as serious of a problem as ever.
"Pneumonia takes the lives of more children under 5 than measles, malaria and AIDS combined," reported the coalition. "The disease takes the life of one child every 15 seconds and accounts for 20 percent of all deaths of children under 5 worldwide."
Many global health organizations are arguing that these troubling statistics can be prevented with relatively economical solutions.
"Nearly half of these deaths could be prevented with existing vaccines, and the vast majority of cases could be treated with inexpensive antibiotics," stated Dr. Bill Frist, former U.S. Senate majority leader and Save the Children board member, in a press release.
Even though most cases of pneumonia-related death occur in developing countries, it is still a pertinent issue locally, said Kelly Craine, public information officer for the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District.
"There are a lot of different types of pneumonia and often it is a secondary condition [meaning that it results from another illness]," Craine said. "It becomes an infection in your lungs and there are many ways to get it. It can turn from something simple, like bronchitis, into something serious very quickly."
UNICEF and the World Health Organization have teamed and formed GAPP to help governments and organizations worldwide address the pneumonia issue.
According to its Web site, "the vision of the GAPP is that every child is protected against pneumonia through a healthy environment." One goal is to reduce mortality from pneumonia in children younger than 5 of age by 65 percent by 2015.
The organization pushes a three-point strategy to protect, prevent and treat. The plan is estimated to cost $39 billion for the 2010 to 2015 period.
Craine said the best method of prevention is mostly common sense, but that people must be proactive about their health.
"Simply maintain good health -- things like washing your hands and covering your mouth when you cough," Craine said. "Don't be afraid to go to a doctor when you get sick."
Dr. Sharon Stern, medical director of health services at Baylor said it is important to see a doctor if pneumonia is suspected.
"Pneumonia may be caused by bacteria, viruses or even fungi," Stern said. "Pneumonia typically causes fever, cough and shortness of breath and it can be diagnosed by listening to a person's lungs and by getting a chest X-ray. Often the X-ray findings lag behind the clinical findings, which means that the physical exam is very important."
Stern said that for university students, pneumonia isn't normally an imminent threat.
"In the Waco area, there are many cases of pneumonia. However, we do not often see it in the Student Health Center," Stern said. "Most likely that is because we have a healthy young population at Baylor."
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