Celebrate World Pneumonia Day 2017, “Stop Pneumonia: Invest in Child Health”

By Swati Sudarsan, IVAC

World Pneumonia Day is dedicated to efforts that address the leading infectious cause of death for children under five. This year, we rally to the theme “Stop Pneumonia: Invest in Child health.” While World Pneumonia Day falls on November 12^th, an unprecedented level of global activism on child health means, in 2017, these efforts no longer fit into just one day. This year, World Pneumonia Day events and activities will take place throughout the month to spotlight and amplify partner activities around the world.

This year’s theme reflects the need for investment to address pneumonia and improve child health. It is up to all of us -donors, the public, governments, and organizations-to invest time and resources into addressing this illness. This theme also underscores the consequences of the illness, from nutritional deficits to missing out on school to catastrophic economic spending for families who miss work or must pay for treatment. We have effective tools to prevent and treat pneumonia, but too often, these do not get to the world’s most vulnerable children. We have the power to call for greater action and investment toward innovation, immunization, and health systems development.

For World Pneumonia Day 2017, the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) will identify ways we can all give voice to the need for increased investment in child health.  Throughout the month we will provide diverse ways for organizations and their advocates to participate in outreach efforts in honor of the day, including the release of our social media press kit. We hope you will join our efforts by sharing key messages from the upcoming toolkit that speak to the importance of child health.

Several events, articles, and reports will launch in the lead-up to World Pneumonia Day. Some key documents to look forward to around World Pneumonia Day include the reports from IVAC, Save the Children, UNICEF, and PATH. In addition, several events will mark the lead-up to World Pneumonia Day. Please follow our calendar for updates. If you would like an event that your organization is planning for World Pneumonia Day to be featured on our calendar, please submit it here. To stay up-to-date on World Pneumonia Day, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to our newsletter here.

Reference:

WHO. (2016). Pneumonia. Accessed on 9/26/17. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs331/en/