Pneumonia is the deadliest respiratory disease commonly caused by viruses or bacteria which is the biggest infectious killer of adults and children claiming around 2.5 million lives, including 6,7affectedildren in 2019. Children below the age of five are most affected by pneumonia killing as many as 8,00,000 children every year. Recently, the Covid pneumonia cases are expected to add more to the total number of deaths caused due to pneumonia. The United Nations Children’s Fund states that across many parts of the world a child loses life to pneumonia every 39 seconds. The disease is termed as “a disease of inequality,” as it is concentrated in poor populations across the globe. The reason behind this is because the disease is preventable and there are vaccines for curing it.
UNICEF says that the disease receives poor funding of only three% in the global infectious disease research. Owing to this a forum for the global health community was built to create awareness around the disease, reflect on what has been done and what could be done. Therefore, World Pneumonia Day was initiated on November 12 to raise awareness about the disease which is marked every year.
In India, the disease accounts for 23% of global pneumonia cases while case mortality rates range between 14 and 30 per cent.
World Pneumonia Day was first observed in 2009 by the Stop Pneumonia Initiative and since then is annually observed to raise global awareness about the disease and call for global action.
Stop Pneumonia Initiative is operated by the Every Breath Counts Coalition, a public-private partnership to assist governments in decreasing deaths resulting from pneumonia. This partnership involves over 140 community-based organisations, government agencies, academic institutions and foundations.
The WHO in 2013 launched a campaign to bring an end to the deaths caused by pneumonia and diarrhoea, another dangerous killer amongst children, 2025 called The integrated Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD).
What is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is an acute respiratory disease that affects the lungs. Any infection that causes inflammation in the lung can also cause pneumonia. Human lungs are made of small sacs called alveoli which are filled with air when we breathe and blood exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide with that filled air. When a person suffers from the infection these sacs are filled with liquid and pus that induces symptoms like cough, difficulty in breathing, rapid breathing, fever. Viruses, bacteria and fungi can cause pneumonia, while older people who undergo severe Covid infections can also develop pneumonia.
Proper vaccination can prevent the disease, says UNICEF, adding that if diagnosed properly even low-cost antibiotics can treat the disease.
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What causes pneumonia?
Tuberculosis is a major cause behind pneumonia in India, particularly impacting people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and people with impaired immunity. Smokers, those who have a history of alcohol intake, other illicit substance abuse or those with underlying chronic respiratory conditions like COPD are vulnerable to the disease. Some other factors that can cause pneumonia include consumption of poor nutritional food especially amongst children, inadequate ventilation at home or workplace. People who have underlying immunocompromised conditions like HIV and those who are on regular steroids or other immunosuppressant medications for organ transplant or autoimmune disorders. People with high diabetes are also at higher risk of contracting pneumonia.
Symptoms of Pneumonia
In general, most patients diagnosed with pneumonia experience high-grade fever with or without chills accompanied with cough of yellowish or green-coloured sputum.
They may also experience breathlessness, chest pain, occasional coughing out of blood or loss of appetite. Those who are serious may develop bloodstream infections and may even require an advanced life support system.
How can pneumonia be prevented?
Timely vaccination, amongst high-risk groups, is the only effective way to prevent the disease. Adult vaccines like influenza and pneumococcal are proven to be successful in lessening the incidence and severity of bacterial infection in adults. Now in the presence of covid vaccination is advisable. A little lifestyle modification like refraining from smoking and drinking, having adequate nutrition, routine physical activity, avoiding overcrowding, and maintaining appropriate blood sugar levels amongst those who are diabetic can reduce the chance of getting pneumonia.