Treatment
The antibiotic of choice is amoxicillin dispersable tablets that can treat pneumonia for less than US$0.50 and avoid a majority of pneumonia deaths. Hospitalization is recommended only for severe cases of pneumonia. Yet only 60% of caregivers seek out adequate care for suspected pneumonia cases, and only one-third of pneumonia cases are addressed with the proper antibiotic treatment.
Prevention
Pneumonia is both preventable and curable. Providing immunisation against Haemophilus influenzae type-b, pneumococcus, measles and whooping cough, is an effective means of preventing pneumonia. The Global Coalition Against Childhood Pneumonia estimates that increased vaccine coverage in the world's 73 poorest countries could prevent 2.9 million deaths and 52 million cases of infection attributable to the disease. Economically, such a move would avoid $51 billion dollars in health costs and productivity losses.
Apart from access to vaccination and appropriate antibiotics, Dr Pandey also insisted upon other equally important factors for prevention and control of childhood pneumonia. These include exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life; proper care of the infant; adequate maternal nutrition; & prevention of low birth weight; good sanitation and hygiene practices such as regular hand washing, and eliminating parental smoking and indoor air pollution.
Talking about pneumonia in neonates, Dr Pandey informed that neonatal pneumonia could be acquired during pregnancy from maternal infection, or during delivery by passage through an infected birth canal, or after delivery from contact with an infected mother/healthcare staff/hospital environment. Mortality rate of early onset pneumonia acquired antenatal or intra-partum (in 3days old infants is 2%-20%. Fatality rate is 2 to 4 times higher in LBW infants than in full-term infants.
Lois Privor-Dumm, Director, Policy, Advocacy & Communications, IVAC and one of the authors of the Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report 2015, said that Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD) aims to protect (by achieving 50% coverage for exclusive breastfeeding for six months), prevent (by achieving 90% vaccine coverage) and treat (by achieving 90% coverage for care and treatment).
GAPPD scores have also been developed--they are a calculated average of countries' coverage levels for the ten GAPPD indicators, using the most recent data available. These GAPPD scores are used to assess and compare progress over time in the highest-burden countries with the greatest number of pneumonia and diarrhea deaths in children under the age of five years.
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