Every Breath Counts PhD Network

Emerging research from our PhD network

Each month, a member of the Every Breath Counts PhD Network will highlight an emerging piece of research with the potential to accelerate reductions in child pneumonia deaths and enable countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

By Lois King

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, conducting research on the “Governance of childhood pneumonia: assessing the effect of global narratives on national priorities and implementation in Bangladesh”. I am using a mixed-methods approach to observe how global health actors perceive pneumonia’s political prioritisation in the context of social theories of prioritisation and neglect.

The importance of qualitative research for targeted community interventions to empower rural caregivers looking after children with suspected pneumonia

Lois King, Global Health Governance Programme, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh

In Bangladesh, 14% of deaths in children under the age of five are attributed to pneumonia every year. Delays in care-seeking are a significant factor in the cause of these deaths. But for targeted interventions in the community to be effective, it is important to understand the reasons care-seeking for children with pneumonia is delayed by using qualitative research methods.

Chowdhury and colleagues (2022) conducted a study to understand barriers to seeking timely treatment for severe childhood pneumonia in rural Bangladesh. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted of mothers from various socio-demographic backgrounds. These participants were specifically caregivers of children under five years with moderate or severe pneumonia who sought healthcare in the last three months.

Point-of-care diagnostics are needed to improve childhood pneumonia case management and survival in low-resource settings

Dr Ayobami Adebayo Bakare, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria and Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Pneumonia remains the leading infectious cause of death among children despite increasing coverage of pneumococcal vaccines and proven therapeutic interventions, including antibiotics and oxygen. The reasons for this may be complex—but an important factor was recently highlighted by Pui-Ying et al who observed that children hospitalized with pneumonia in settings where vaccine coverage, HIV, and chronic malnutrition rates are high did not present with typical signs and symptoms. This made accurate diagnosis with existing tools including risk scores difficult increasing the risk of missed diagnosis and inappropriate antibiotic use. The authors concluded that the absence of more specific diagnostics hinder both the rational application of treatments and appropriate antimicrobial stewardship.

PCV-13 Vaccination: the value of analyzing dosing schedules for low-resource settings

Annick Raissa Ouelhore Sidibe, Surveillance and Immunization Technical Advisor, Jhpiego, Burkina Faso

Streptococcus pneumoniae infection is one of the leading bacterial causes of sickness and death worldwide. With nearly 3.7 million severe infections and 400,000 deaths in children under five each year, it is the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis in children worldwide.

Pneumococci are classified into more than 90 stereotypes. Although most stereotypes can colonize the oropharynx, fewer than 20 stereotypes cause disease. And some stereotypes are particularly known for their invasive potential and ability to cause outbreaks, especially stereotypes 1 and 5.