Stopping pneumonia isn’t about luck. It’s about action.
Stop Pneumonia was an initiative that provided a voice for communities who suffer from the devastating consequences of the disease and who lack access to lifesaving interventions. While progress has been made in reducing deaths due to pneumonia, a continued focus and sustained investment in child health is needed to provide simple and effective solutions to finish the job. The Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia provided leadership on these advocacy efforts and comprised of NGOs, academic institutions, government agencies and foundations.
The goals of Stop Pneumonia were to:
- Raise awareness about pneumonia, the world’s leading infectious killer of children under the age of 5
- Promote interventions to protect against, prevent, and treat pneumonia and highlight proven approaches and solutions in need of additional resources and attention
- Generate action, including continued donor investment, to combat pneumonia and other common, yet sometimes deadly, childhood diseases
The initiative drew upon the contributions of advocates and health workers working to fight preventable child deaths, and highlight the impact of their efforts. The coalition strove to educate other advocates, donors, and policy makers about the essential need for progress on pneumonia in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3—reducing child mortality.
Stop Pneumonia was spearheaded by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. IVAC helped to coordinate efforts and amplify the voice of advocates around the world during World Pneumonia Day, observed on November 12 since 2009. On this day, the global health community comes together to recognize the importance of fighting pneumonia.
Stop Pneumonia provided news, information and resources for child health and development organizations, policymakers and countries working to implement the Integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD). GAPPD goes to the heart of the challenge: recognizing that prevention and control of pneumonia and diarrhoea cannot be adequately addressed with separate strategies, but rather with integrated programmes.