More than 2,000 children die from pneumonia every day, charities warn

International donors and affected countries are being urged to turn their attention to pneumonia – a disease that killed 2,000 children every day last year but that is largely ignored by the world.

A new analysis by a coalition of six organisations, including Save the Children and Unicef, showed that in 2018 802,000 children under the age of five died from the disease - equivalent to 2,200 every day.

The number of deaths has more than halved since 2000 when nearly two million children died but the lung disease claims more lives than malaria, HIV and diarrhoea which, the children’s charities say, receive a lot more global attention.

Dr Stefan Peterson, chief of health at Unicef, said it was a “tragedy” that the number of deaths had barely changed in recent years.

“The numbers year by year are depressingly similar, unlike many other conditions where we are making good progress. This is the world’s biggest killer of children, a neglected disease, and we’re failing to make the progress we should,” he said.

Pneumonia is an infection that attacks the lungs, which fill with fluid or pus. It causes fever, chills and difficulty breathing.

Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children, described the horror of watching very young children “literally gasping for breath”.

“Many doctors say this is the most distressing of all the childhood diseases. They tell of the agony that children go through and the anguish parents go through,” he said.

Pneumonia overwhelmingly affects the poorest in society – even in richer countries. In the year up to March 2019 in England 56,000 children under the age of 18 fell ill with the disease and 27 died, with more cases  in the most deprived areas of the country.

According to a Save the Children analysis of NHS data there were nearly one and a half times as many children admitted to hospital with pneumonia in the poorest parts of England compared with the richest parts.

Children with immune systems weakened by other infections like HIV or malnutrition, and those living in areas with high levels of air pollution and unsafe water, are at the greatest risk of catching the disease.

In January the first ever global summit on the disease is taking place and charities hope that both international donors and affected countries will turn their attention to this disease - both in terms of committing funds and sounding the alarm.

Mr Watkins said there was a “terrible lack of attention” globally and nationally on the disease.

“International cooperation on pneumonia is very limited - it’s a terribly neglected disease. We want to focus the attention of  both the donor community and governments in high burden countries on the sheer scale of the problem,” he said.

Pneumonia can easily be prevented with routine vaccines, including the Haemophilus influenza type B (HIB) vaccine and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV).

However, the PCV is expensive – around $130 a dose in the US – and needs to be given in three doses.

The poorest countries are supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. However, about half of middle income countries that do not qualify for Gavi support have failed to introduce the PCV.

There is no good diagnostic test for pneumonia and the way the disease presents in children – high fever and rapid breathing – means that it is often misdiagnosed as malaria.

The disease can be treated with the antibiotic amoxicillin but for the medicine to be effective it has to be administered early.

Tens of millions of children are still going unvaccinated – and one in three with symptoms do not receive essential medical care, the charities warn.

Dr Peterson said that it was frustrating that an organisation such as the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria – which last month raised more than $14 billion – did not tackle pneumonia. He said the organisation wants to avoid “mission creep”.

“In the Millennium Development Goal era we targeted disease, but now in the Sustainable development goal era we should target the patient,” he said.

Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security