Climate is changing at a rapid pace and so are the deadly viruses and its effects. The more the change in environment the harder it becomes to kill these deadly viruses, bacteria. Every day thousands of people suffer from various new diseases some lose their battle with death while some continue to suffer due to it.
One such virus is Pneumonia which is a preventable and treatable disease yet sickens 155 million children under 5 years of age and kills 1.6 million each year thus making it the number 1 killer of children under 5, and claiming more young lives than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.
World Pneumonia Day which is observed on November 12 provides an annual forum for the world to stand together and demand action in the fight against pneumonia. More than 100 organizations representing the interests of children joined forces as the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia to hold the first World Pneumonia Day on 2 November 2009.
In India alone many India in the year 2016, the total number of deaths among the under-five population was 1,58,176 children yet people are unaware of its overwhelming death toll. Because of this, pneumonia has been overshadowed as a priority on the global health agenda. World Pneumonia Day helps to bring this health crisis to the public attention and encourages policy makers and grassroots organizers alike to combat the disease.
In spite of the massive death toll of this disease, affordable treatment and prevention options exist. There are effective vaccines against the two most common bacterial causes of deadly pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B and Streptococcus pneumonia, and most common viral cause of pneumonia, Orthomyxoviridae. A course of antibiotics which costs less than $1(US) is capable of curing the disease if it is started at an early stage. The Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) released by the WHO and UNICEF on World Pneumonia Day, 2009, finds that 1 million lives of children could be saved every year if prevention and treatment interventions for pneumonia were widely introduced in the poorest countries across the world.
