15 Nov Get Drunk, Wear Jeans – Five Ways to Support World Pneumonia Day
If you’re like most people, you’ll be surprised to learn that the number 1 killer of children worldwide isn’t malaria, measles, or HIV. It’s pneumonia, a common lung inflammation that claims more kids’ lives than all of those diseases combined — more than 1.5 million every year — and is most devastating in developing countries, where 98.5 percent of childhood pneumonia deaths occur. On the other hand, most of the US is blissfully insulated from the deadly effects of the disease — and ignorant to its wide reach.
That’s because, given proper supplies, pneumonia is treatable: one million children could have been saved this year if simple interventions like vaccinations and antibiotics were more readily accessible. The mission of the GAVI Alliance, a global public-private health partnership, is to bring such treatments to the world’s most vulnerable populations. But such a feat doesn’t come cheap — the organization needs to raise more than $4 billion in the next five years. To help raise awareness, and the necessary funds, they’ve designated today, Nov. 12 World Pneumonia Day.