Pneumonia prevention weak – Experts

“For a long time, pneumonia programme has not really been strong on its own,” said Dr Francis Ohanyido, national pneumonia coordinator for Targeted States High Impact Project of the US Agency for International Development. He said experts were yet to find ways to enable people detect pneumonia in their families “before it causes chaos.”“People are […]

“For a long time, pneumonia programme has not really been strong on its own,” said Dr Francis Ohanyido, national pneumonia coordinator for Targeted States High Impact Project of the US Agency for International Development.
He said experts were yet to find ways to enable people detect pneumonia in their families “before it causes chaos.”
“People are aware that children die of pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases and other problems like malnutrition but most people don’t know pneumonia is a major killer of children globally.”
Speaking to Daily Trust, he said stakeholders need to bring the disease “to the front burner where every single Nigerian understands pneumonia is a danger to every child, especially children under five years of age.”
Up to 140,000 children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for some 17% of all deaths of children under age five.
Ohanyido said evidence has linked pneumonia to diarrhoea and poor environmental sanitation, but government was faced addressing issues that compound the burden of pneumonia, including poverty, sociocultural issues, health-seeking behavior, access to facilities and willingness to use facilities.
He observed that amoxicillin, a major drug for treating pneumonia, was not available in communities where it is immediately needed, insisting accessibility to drugs was a systemic issue government needed to address.