One year on… what progress has been made?
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges and opportunities in our efforts to reduce child pneumonia deaths and strengthen health systems.
Now is the time to take stock.
FINAL DECLARATION – from The Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia, 29-31 January 2020, Barcelona, Spain Read the Final Declaration
Sign the Final Declaration
YOUTH CALL TO ACTION ON CHILDHOOD PNEUMONIA – Read the call to action
Pneumonia is the single biggest infectious killer of children, claiming more than 800,000 lives annually. Yet pneumonia remains a neglected disease both nationally and globally.
The Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia was a major opportunity to ensure that pneumonia is at the forefront of national and global health agendas, galvanise national action and mobilise the donor community to increase awareness of the scale of the pneumonia challenge.
ISGlobal, Save the Children, UNICEF, Every Breath Counts, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ”la Caixa” Foundation, USAID, Unitaid and Gavi had joined forces to address one of the greatest and gravest health challenges facing children around the world.
As the world’s first conference on childhood pneumonia – which took place on 29-31 January 2020 at CosmoCaixa in Barcelona, Spain – the Global Forum agreed on practical pathways that governments and their partners could take to reduce child pneumonia deaths to the levels required to achieve both the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) target and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for child survival.
Participants agreed to strengthen primary health care, increase investments, accelerate multisector action, and fast-track innovations to reduce pneumonia deaths to less than 3 per 1,000 live births by 2025 and under five mortality to less than 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030.
This was not a forum for reflection. It was a call to action to deliver concrete measures with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of children’s lives.
We are convinced that a breakthrough on pneumonia is within reach.
SIGNATORIES TO THE FINAL DECLARATION
200 people have added their signatures to the Final Declaration made at the first Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia, held in Barcelona, January 2020.
Want to add your signature too? Please add your details here:
VIDEOS
FIGHTING FOR BREATH: The Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia. DAY 1 – View video
FIGHTING FOR BREATH: The Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia. DAY 2 – View video
OUTCOMES
RESOURCES
PRESS RELEASE – 9 million children could die in a decade unless the world acts on pneumonia Download
BRIEFING – Tackling pneumonia could avert almost 9 million child deaths this decade Download
BROCHURE – Every Child’s Right to Survive: An Agenda to end Pneumonia Deaths. Download
EDITORIAL – We’re not fighting hard enough against the top killer of children. Here
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES – find out who was presenting at the Forum
Read the speaker biographies >
CONCEPT NOTE – an overview of the Forum: why it’s needed: where and when it’s taking place and the expected outcomes. Download
FORUM AGENDA – the full Forum agenda for 29-31 January 2020
Check out the full agenda
About childhood pneumonia
Almost all of the deaths from childhood pneumonia are readily preventable through vaccination and treatable with low-cost antibiotics and oxygen. Still, the death toll continues. The poorest children are most at risk because of high rates of malnutrition, low vaccine coverage and limited access to correct diagnosis and timely treatment. With the movements to strengthen primary healthcare and achieve universal health coverage gathering pace, now is the time to accelerate efforts to end preventable child pneumonia deaths.
By 2030, pneumonia will kill 6 million more children unless the world takes decisive action now.
Latest posts
Digital health tools to accelerate action toward child survival
Electronic health tools like pulse oximetry are a critical component of the child survival agenda - offering a lifeline to those who urgently need oxygen therapy to breathe.
29 November, 2021
Statement: World Antimicrobial Awareness Week
How do we reduce the overuse of antibiotics for the treatment of pneumonia yet close the remaining access gaps for pneumonia patients, especially children, who are missing out?
23 November, 2021
Mtheto’s Story
"It’s not just the availability of oxygen that affects us. There are so many other challenges we face in our healthcare system here in Malawi." Read Mtheto Sinjani' story.
23 November, 2021
We all have a role to play in ending pneumonia deaths by 2030
