Pneumonia is the world’s leading infectious killer of children, claiming one child every 39 seconds. Yet pneumonia remains a neglected disease. It has been called a “global cause without champions”.
The good news is that new champions – including the Stop Pneumonia Initiative and the Every Breath Counts Coalition – have joined forces to galvanise urgently needed action about this forgotten epidemic.
The Stop Pneumonia initiative
Stop Pneumonia is an initiative that provides a voice for communities who suffer from the devastating consequences of the disease and who lack access to lifesaving interventions.
Stop Pneumonia was spearheaded by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. On World Pneumonia Day – 12 November – the global health community comes together to recognize the importance of fighting pneumonia.
The Every Breath Counts Coalition
The Every Breath Counts Coalition is a public-private partnership to support national governments to end preventable child pneumonia deaths by 2030.
This global coalition of UN agencies, businesses, donors and NGOs have committed to supporting governments in 10 countries with some of the highest burdens of pneumonia. The 40 members provide support to close the critical gaps in pneumonia prevention, diagnosis and treatment, which could save hundreds of thousands of child pneumonia deaths each year.
World Pneumonia Day
World Pneumonia Day, marked every year on 12 November, was established by the Stop Pneumonia Initiative in 2009 to raise awareness about the toll of pneumonia – a leading killer of children around the world – and to advocate for global action to protect against, help prevent and effectively treat this deadly illness.
News & updates
New global data, in-country success stories, op-eds from experts. You can find it all here.
Latest posts
Reflections on the inaugural Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia
For three days in late January 2020, 400 individuals from 60 countries gathered in Barcelona to work out better ways to fight the leading infectious threat to child survival - pneumonia. Leith Greenslade, coordinator of the Every Breath Counts Coalition, a 40-member public-private partnership, reflects on what was achieved and what it means for children.
18 February, 2020
The first Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia
The first Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia. A snapshot through photos.
14 February, 2020
Testing pneumonia diagnostic aids in Ethiopia and Nepal
The challenges in pneumonia diagnosis in low-resource settings have been well documented. The current method routinely used involves community health workers manually counting a child’s breath for one minute - the respiratory rate. This is often not done, or done poorly, frequently leading to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.
20 December, 2019
Improving access to tools that detect critically ill children
New Unitaid-funded initiative is a key step toward improving primary health care and reducing childhood mortality
18 December, 2019
More than 5 million children vaccinated in Africa & South America thanks to Alliance for Child Vaccination led by ”la Caixa”
Vaccination saves lives, especially in countries where access to healthcare is still a challenge. More than five million children in vulnerable areas of Africa and Latin America have been vaccinated since the launch, more than 10 years ago, of the Child Vaccination Programme.
16 December, 2019
Oxygen for every child who needs it: the Nigeria Oxygen Implementation Project
In 2015 we started the Nigeria Oxygen Implementation Project with the ambition of ensuring that every unwell child will receive oxygen therapy if they need it.
13 December, 2019
We all have a role to play in ending preventable child pneumonia deaths by 2030
For more information, please contact EBC@mhpc.com