Heena Sharma Blog

In 2016, almost 261,000 Indian children died before their fifth birthday due to diarrhoea or pneumonia , both preventable diseases. This is the highest toll taken anywhere in the world by the two diseases--a fifth of their global burden--according to the 2018 Pneumonia & diarrhoea Progress Report, released on November 12, 2018, which was World Pneumonia Day . This means that about 735 Indian children died everyday of either disease in 2016--one child every two minutes. Globally, pneumonia and diarrhoea cause a quarter of deaths in children under five and fighting them together can drastically reduce child mortality across the world. India has had mixed success in the prevention, control and treatment of diarrhoea and pneumonia in the year to 2016: Immunisation coverage improved but there was a decline in treatment indicators, said the report by the International Vaccine Access Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This report analyses how effectiv

More than 1.7 million children in India are likely to die of pneumonia by 2030, despite the infection being easily treatable, a global study released on Monday has warned. The study, released on the occasion of the World Pneumonia Day , found that the infectious disease is likely to kill nearly 11 million children under five by 2030. Nigeria, India, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are likely to bear the highest burden of deaths, according to the report by UK-based non-profit Save the Children. The report also shows that more than four million of these deaths -- over a third -- could be easily averted with concerted action to improve rates of vaccination, treatment and nutrition. The disease is the biggest infectious killer for children globally, killing more than malaria, diarrhoea and measles combined. Read Complete Article Business Standard