World Pneumonia Day is an annual observance for the world to stand together and fight against pneumonia. It was established in 2009 by the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia. Various health-related organisations came together to observe the first World Pneumonia Day on November 2, 2009. The day helps to highlight the gravity of pneumonia and encourages organisations to look at ways of combating the disease. World Pneumonia Day 2019 is observed on November 12. Every year pneumonia affects 155 million children under five years of age and kills 1.6 million each year thus claiming more young lives than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. In 2013, WHO and UNICEF released the Integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea. It sets a target of less than three child pneumonia deaths per 1000 live births in every country by 2025. World Pneumonia Day 2019: Why Pneumonia Often Strikes Older Adults? Here's What Makes the Lung Disease Dangerous For Old People.

Pneumonia Symptoms, Causes, Treatment And Prevention

Pneumonia is a disease that causes infection in one or both lungs which can be life-threatening. The infection causes inflammation in the air sacs of lungs known as alveoli. The air sacs get filled with fluid or puss resulting in symptoms like cough, fever, chills, and difficulty in breathing. Various organisms are responsible for causing pneumonia including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The two most common bacterial causes of deadly pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B and Streptococcus pneumoniae, and most common viral cause of pneumonia, Orthomyxoviridae. Pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics and drinking a lot of fluids. If required thenpatient should be treated in the hospital. In India, there are three vaccines to prevent the disease including PCV Pneumonial Conjugate Vaccine and PPSV Pneumonial Polysaccharide Vaccine

However, most people are ignorant about the death toll resulting from pneumonia. Due to the alarming figure, the disease has been overshadowed as a priority on the global health agenda. World Pneumonia Day helps to bring the public's attention to this health crisis and encourage people to combat the issue. Although Pneumonia is one of the most solvable problems in global health yet a child dies from the infection every 20 seconds. While the death toll is high, the treatment and prevention of the disease are quite affordable.

In 2018, John Hopkins Centre of Public Health published a report in Pneumonia and Diarrhoea which states that around 1,58,176 children under the age of five due to pneumonia in 2016 in India. The factors caused the infection to spread include malnutrition, non-exclusive-breast feeding, low-birth weight, lack of measles immunisation, overcrowding, indoor air pollution, etc.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 12, 2019 12:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).