12 May Experts hinge MDGs success on pneumonia vaccination
The Guardian Nigeria
PAEDIATRIC experts have said that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would be fast-tracked if pneumonia vaccine were incorporated in the National Programme on Immunisation (NPI).
The world-class specialists in research, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pneumococcal disease (PD), said at the second yearly Africa and Middle East (AfME) Pneumococcal Summit held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) that pneumonia vaccination will halt at least 20 per cent of deaths in children under five and meet the MDG-4.
World Health Organisation (WHO) said that pneumococcal disease is one of the leading vaccine-preventable causes of death in infants and children younger than five years of age worldwide and each year, pneumonia causes an average of 20 per cent of deaths in children under five in Nigeria.