Research
Pneumonia is the world’s leading infectious killer – claiming 2.5 million lives, including 610,000 children, in 2023. And we can never forget that COVID-19 added another 9.4 million to the death toll in 2021, bringing the total number of respiratory infection-related deaths to 11.5 million in that year. No other infection causes anywhere near this burden of death. Yet, a disproportionately low amount of research funding is allocated to pneumonia compared with other leading infectious killers – such as HIV/AIDS and malaria.
According to a 2020 Lancet study:
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- Pneumonia attracted just 3% of infectious disease research funding between 2000 and 2017
- 80% of pneumonia research funding came from just two US-based research funders and was narrowly focused on basic science
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This amount of funding and narrow focus is not aligned with the pneumonia’s global disease burden, pandemic risk, or the priorities of researchers and policymakers. Increasing the amount and scope of pneumonia research funding is critical to improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pneumonia, and to reducing the huge burden of death and our vulnerability to respiratory infection pandemics.
To mobilize more investment in childhood pneumonia research – an important subset of the global challenge – Every Breath Counts surveyed 108 leading pneumonia experts between November 2019 and June 2021 to develop a list of research priorities with the potential to accelerate reductions in child pneumonia deaths and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
They identified 20 pneumonia research priorities, with preventing neonatal pneumonia, the development of inexpensive, rapid point-of-care diagnostic and etiological tests that differentiate between bacterial, viral, and malaria infections, and access to pulse oximetry and medical oxygen emerging as leading priorities for future research.
Critically, the list of priorities differed between experts based in high-income and those based in low- and middle-income countries, with the former prioritizing the urgent need for neonatal pneumonia research while the latter prioritized vaccine and health system capacity research.
To ensure that these childhood pneumonia research priorities influence global investments in the countdown to 2030, Every Breath Counts members are engaging the leading infectious disease research funders to make the case for increased investments against these 20 priorities, with a special focus on investing in researchers and institutions based in low-resource settings.
Read more and listen here
Spotlight
Join the second quarterly meeting of The Union Child Pneumonia Working Group on 26 June 2026, live from the sidelines of the 4th Conference of the International Society of Respiratory Diseases (INSPiRED).
We welcome all attendees to Room Rosa (1st Floor) at 1:00pm CEST and if you would like to join online, please register here. We will be highlighting the child pneumonia-related work on the INSPiRED agenda!
You can read our second Quarterly Newsletter here, with a special message from the Co-chairs:
“This is an extraordinary time to work in child pneumonia. Rapid molecular diagnostics, expanding RSV prevention, and a global oxygen agenda are converging in ways we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. But tools only save lives when they reach children and that depends on the research, advocacy, and partnerships this community drives daily. We encourage every member to stay engaged, keep asking the hard questions, and point your science squarely at making the maximum impact.”
Learn more about the group here.
The Union Childhood Pneumonia Working Group
The first-ever Childhood Pneumonia Working Group has been established by The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (the Union). Co-chaired by Dr Rebecca Nantanda, Dr Eric McCollum, and Leith Greenslade, the group’s overarching goal is to be an expert scientific voice and convener communicating the latest science on the most effective strategies to prevent, diagnose, and treat child pneumonia. Our singular goal – accelerating child mortality reductions.
Specifically, the group will:
- Amplify evidence and policy solutions with the capacity to accelerate reductions in child pneumonia deaths.
- Strengthen community of practice across child pneumonia researchers and advocates linked to The Union and beyond.
- Influence the global agenda on child pneumonia through high-visibility convenings and presentations at major global health events, including the annual Union World Conference on Lung Health.
Given the concentration of child pneumonia deaths in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the group is committed to supporting scientists, research institutions, and implementation research based in these countries.
Read our quarterly newsletters: Q1 2026, Q2 2026
Learn more about the Working Group here, and to join, email Dr Eric McCollum, ericdmccollum@gmail.com, or Leith Greenslade, leith@justactions.org.
“The Union Child Pneumonia Working Group serves as a global hub for leading and emerging scientists with a shared mission to advance research on childhood pneumonia to reduce the burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The group seeks not only to expand scientific understanding, but also to bridge the gap between research and action—informing policies, guiding programs, and shaping the interventions that will drive the next wave of reductions in child pneumonia mortality.”
Co-chairs, Eric McCollum, Rebecca Nantanda, and Leith Greenslade
New and noteworthy pneumonia research
Peer-reviewed publications with the potential to transform the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pneumonia, especially in low-resource settings.
Supporting Early Career Researchers
List of new publications on a critical area of pneumonia research from early career researchers, especially working in low- and middle-income countries.
Child Pneumonia Research Investment Scorecard
Scorecard of the top 20 global and low- and middle-income country childhood pneumonia research priorities and the number of research grants focused on each.