Most Common Causes of Death

According to Unicef, around 15,000 infants die from pneumonia every day worldwide. It’s an irony and a failure of mankind that most of the children suffer from a disease that is actually preventable and easy to cure.  

According to Unicef, the most common cause of death among children under the age of five worldwide is pneumonia . Around 800,000 children under the age of five die from pneumonia every year. The once forgotten epidemic is more dangerous for young children than diarrhea that causes 437,000 deaths and malaria which kills 272,000 children every year.

Nearly 2200 children die of pneumonia every day.

Although pneumonia is a largely preventable and an easy to cure disease, it killed nearly 2200 children every day. That’s, on average, one death every 39 seconds. Half of all deaths are attributable to only five countries. 

• Nigeria – 162,000
• India – 127,000
• Pakistan – 58,000
• The Democratic Republic of Congo – 40,000
• Ethiopia – 32,000.
  

Diseased children suffer from shortness of breath

Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. The children suffer from shortness of breath, while pus and other fluids accumulate in their lungs. Prevention is possible with vaccinations, treatment with antibiotics. The current shortage of vaccines, antibiotics and oxygen treatments result in the deaths of millions of children.Usually, pneumonia requires proper diet and clean water along with the medicine to be quickly and completely treated however in the countries that it has maximum impact, three meals a day is unaffordable for most people, let alone the protein rich diet.

How to Identify pneumonia in children?

Children suffering from pneumonia usually show symptoms like :

• Cough with or without fever.
• Fast breathing or shortness of breath.
• Children who are severely ill may fall unconscious or feel severely cold.

Taking the child immediately to the doctor is strictly advised. The procedure of treatment might take from a week upto six weeks and would include heavy antibiotics.

A serious action needs to be taken to ensure that pneumonia is eradicated which is the first step towards securing the future and health of the children.