Resources

ISPPD 2026

On 17 May 2026, the world’s leading pneumonia scientists and public health advocates came together for a workshop dedicated to strengthening pneumonia control in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at the 14th congress of the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD) in Copenhagen.The workshop kicked off with moderator, Leith Greenslade from the Every Breath Counts Coalition showing a video, Niruta’s Story, about a young girl from Nepal who was unvaccinated and who almost died from pneumococcal disease.

This was followed by a presentation by Mohsen Naghavi from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington on pneumonia mortality, etiology, and risk factors from the Global Burden of Disease 2023.

A panel of experts explored new developments in pneumonia prevention, including Eleanor Neal from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) on reduced dose PCV schedules (PCV 1+1), Fulgence Niyibitegeka from MCRI on the budget impact of PCV 1+1, Debby Bogaert from the University of Edinburgh on the RSV maternal vaccine, Micheal Besong from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on new financing arrangements and the Vaccine Portfolio Optimisation and Prioritisation (VPOP) strategy, and Keith Klugman from the Gates Foundation on the pneumonia vaccine pipeline (e.g., GBS, klebsiella pneumonia), and what the most cost-effective pneumonia vaccine strategies look like with all of the recent developments.

Live demonstrations of two new tools followed, the first by Jennifer Rosauer from the Strategic Analysis, Research & Training (START) Center at the University of Washington who presented the Global Pneumococcal Serotype Interactive Dashboard (GPSID), followed by Marley Jurgensmeyer and Maria Knoll from the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) who demonstrated the PCV and RSV data on VIEW-Hub by IVAC.

The second panel focused on new developments in pneumonia diagnosis and management. Todd Florin from the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University presented on Risk Prediction Models that can isolate children at greatest risk of death from pneumonia, Shibu Vijayan from Qure.ai explored AI-enabled diagnostic tools and databases, Nicholas Fancourt from the University of Sydney addressed integrating nutrition and pneumonia prevention and care, while Alicia Quach from MCRI outlined the urgent need for pneumonia targets and indicators for tracking progress.

There was a special session on clinicians and researchers as pneumonia advocates, led by Catia Cilloniz, the Director of PneumoLight: the Worldwide Pneumonia Awareness Campaign and and the Global Conferences for World Pneumonia Day.

The program wrapped with Fiona Russell from MCRI bringing it all together, summarizing how clinicians can get more engaged in the efforts to strengthen national pneumonia control programs.

Additional resources highlighted at the workshop include: