World Pneumonia Day is held every year on November 12. This year it focuses on events around partnerships, aiming to lower mortality rates and strengthen pandemic defenses by uniting organizations to expand access to life-saving interventions.

Pneumonia is a lung infection that causes inflammation of the air sacs (alveoli) in one or both lungs. The infection can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi. The disease is the leading infectious cause of death for children worldwide, killing more children than any other infectious disease.

In Africa, Unicef said, the disease claims the lives of over 700,000 children under five every year, or around 2,000 every day, including about 200,000 newborns. Almost all of these deaths are preventable.

The Global Burden of Disease estimates that air pollution is responsible for approximately 2.2 million pneumonia-related deaths annually. Every Breath Counts released an Air Pollution and Pneumonia Scorecard, ranking the 20 countries with the most cases of pneumonia linked to air pollution.

Ten of the 20 countries on the Scorecard are in Africa - Nigeria, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Kenya, and Somalia - with the most deaths attributable to pneumonia caused by air pollution.

Governments are called on – via the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 – to reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination.