According to a survey, pneumonia kills more than one in ten under five years children in Bangladesh as it is one of the leading killer diseases.
Bangladesh committed to reaching global targets of reducing child pneumonia to 3 pneumonia deaths per 1000 live births, according to a report released by Save the Children and Johns Hopkins University.
The report highlighted that more collaborative efforts to fight pneumonia could avert nearly 140,000 child deaths from pneumonia and other related diseases in Bangladesh over the next 10 years.
Dhaka Shishu Hospital doctor Saidur Rahman said that pneumonia was caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, and left children fighting for breath as their lungs filled with pus and fluid. More children under the age of five died from the disease in 2018 than from any other.
He said that the disease could be prevented with vaccines, and easily treated with low-cost antibiotics if properly diagnosed. Children with severe cases of pneumonia might also require oxygen treatment, rarely available in the poorest countries to the children.
In Bangladesh, pneumonia claimed the lives of more than 12,000 children under five, which is more than 1 child every hour. In 2018, 13 per cent of child deaths were due to pneumonia.
鈥楤angladesh is committed to reduce children dying from pneumonia to reach global targets of 3 pneumonia deaths per 1000 live births by 2025,鈥� said Saidur.
鈥榃e have an aim to develop a national pneumonia prevention and control strategy to ensure quality equitable access to primary healthcare and contributing towards achieving universal health coverage,鈥� he continued.
Save the Children appreciated the government鈥檚 efforts in improving exclusive breastfeeding rates and reducing malnutrition rates in the country, he added.
Saidur also said that most deaths from pneumonia in development and emergency context could be averted by ensuring high coverage of pneumonia vaccines, timely treatment of pneumonia at the community level and appropriate infant and young children feeding.
