Fifth Annual World Pneumonia Day Marks Successes and Challenges in Tackling #1 Killer of Children
Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia Calls for Continued Investment in Innovations and Proven Tools

(BALTIMORE, MARYLAND) — Global health advocates today commemorated the fifth annual World Pneumonia Day by calling on global leaders to scale up existing interventions and invest in new diagnostics and treatments to defeat pneumonia. Each year, pneumonia kills more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Pneumonia took the lives of nearly 1.1 million children under 5 in 2012 alone, with more than 99 percent of these deaths in developing countries, where access to healthcare facilities and treatment is out of reach for many children…

World Pneumonia Day was established in 2009 to raise awareness about pneumonia; to promote interventions to protect against, prevent, and treat pneumonia; and to generate action in combating pneumonia. For more information about World Pneumonia Day and its activities, please visit www.worldpneumoniaday.org.
http://worldpneumoniaday.org/fifth-annual-world-pneumonia-day-marks-successes-and-challenges/

The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released today its 2013 Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report, which found gradual increases in access to vaccines, treatment, and other interventions in the 15 countries with the highest numbers of child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea. The report found that seven countries achieved some progress toward the GAPPD targets, while eight countries had not made significant progress toward reaching targets.