Abuja — Recent reports on the effect of pneumonia on children should be a matter of serious concern to the authorities.

According to the reports released by the Paediatric Infectious Diseases Society of Nigeria at an event to mark the first World Pneumonia Day with the theme, 'Fight Pneumonia, save a child', about 200,000 Nigerian children, mostly below five years of age, die annually on account of the disease . The figure represents 10 percent of the annual global record of 2 million pneumonia-related deaths, thus placing Nigeria second after India on the list of countries with the highest cases of the disease in the world.

Pneumonia, according to experts is an acute infection of the lungs which can be caused by organisms such as bacteria and viruses. Symptoms include persistent cough, cold, and difficulty in breathing and pains in the chest.

The pneumonia problem is coming at a time medical experts converged in South Africa to reinvigorate the fight against the rampaging effects of malaria, which today is considered the leading child killer disease in sub -Saharan Africa. Though the World Health Organisation and UNICEF jointly pledge to raise $39billion to help fight pneumonia and other child killer diseases globally, this cannot be achieved easily until leaders in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations reaffirm their commitments and show the political will to tackle the situation.

In Nigeria, for instance, the quest for comprehensive health care delivery is yet to record any significant progress, particularly at the grassroots level. Similarly, the on- going campaign at achieving the health - related aspect of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has made little impact, as recently highlighted by the health minister Prof Babatunde Osotimehin while presenting a paper on health situation analysis in Nigeria. He confessed that health care services in the country are in deplorable condition. "It is evident that our current health situation is deplorable and unacceptable. We need to move from cataloguing problems to proffering solutions through effective implementation of the health sector component of vision 20-20-20", he said. This indeed is indicative of the nation's lackadaisical attitude to healthcare delivery. Today, aside from the upsurge in cases of pneumonia, there are also reports of sporadic increase in diseases such as tuberculosis, diarrhoea, diabetes and measles, all killing thousands of children every year.

With the alarming record of claiming the lives of about 5000 Nigerian children daily, pneumonia is today identified as the most deadly of the childhood diseases in the country. However, it is encouraging that the disease is easily preventable and curable, provided prompt medical attention is given.

The disease, experts said, could be better combated if people endeavour to reduce household indoor air pollution and ensure regular use of zinc supplements in the diet in order to reduce occurrence of acute respiratory infections. Experts also recommend vaccines such as Haemophilic Influenza type B ( HiB ) and pneumonia conjugate vaccine ( PCJ ) for routine immunisation of children under five years of age. The vaccines cost less per dose (as HiB cost N28 per dose) and a child requires no more than three doses as antidote to the disease. However, reports indicated that government is yet to adopt any of the vaccines for use against the killer disease. It is in view of this that we call on the Federal Ministry of Health to buckle up and list among its priorities the provision of vaccines to curtail the spread of the disease. It is worrisome to note that today, the healthcare delivery system has become so dilapidated and of doubtful integrity that any body who can afford it always rushes abroad to treat even the most minor of ailments. Since pneumonia is identified as one of the child- killer diseases, it is imperative to declare a war on it.

The general public must also be sensitised and mobilised, while health personnel should be given the necessary orientation on how to handle the disease. We also call on governments at all levels to ensure that pneumonia vaccines are procured and made available during routine immunisation programmes, and all eligible children are immunised.