UN launched new plans to save children from pneumonia, diarrhoea

Pneumonia and diarrhoea account for 23 and 12 per cent of deaths respectively in children below the age of five in India. They remain major killers of young children globally too, accounting for 29 per cent of all child deaths-a loss of 2 million lives-each year. Children are dying because services are being provided piecemeal and those at the highest risk are not being reached. Use of effective interventions is too low-for instance, only 39 per cent of infants are exclusively breast-fed, while only 60 per cent of children with suspected pneumonia are able to access appropriate care.

Moreover, children are not receiving life-saving treatment-only 31 per cent of children with suspected pneumonia receive antibiotics and only 35 per cent of those with diarrhoea receive oral rehydration therapy.

Thus the United Nations has launched a global plan to combat two of the leading killers of children under five, potentially saving two million youngsters each year who would otherwise die from pneumonia and diarrhoea in low- and middle-income countries.

The GAPPD aims to provide a framework by which to protect children, prevent diseases and enable treatment using proven interventions. It calls on national governments to prioritise the fight against pneumonia and diarrhoea and is designed to inform country policies and practices.

The achievable goals set by the GAPPD for 2025 are: to reduce mortality from pneumonia in children less than 5 years of age to fewer than 3 per 1,000 live births; reduce mortality from diarrhoea in children less than 5 years of age to fewer than 1 per 1,000 live births; and reduce the incidence of severe pneumonia by 75 per cent in children less than 5 years of age compared to 2010 levels.

It also seeks to reduce the incidence of severe diarrhoea by 75 per cent in children less than 5 years of age, compared to 2010 levels, and bring down, by 40 per cent, the global number of children under 5 years of age who are stunted, compared to 2010 levels.

To achieve these targets, full immunisation coverage will need to be reached by the end of 2025, with 90 per cent of full-dose coverage of each relevant vaccine, 90-per-cent access to appropriate pneumonia and diarrhoea case management and at least 50-per-cent coverage of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life.

By the end of 2030, there must be universal access to basic drinking-water in healthcare facilities and homes;universal access to adequate sanitation in healthcare facilities by 2030 and in homes by 2040.

The MDGs, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, also seek to slash a host of social ills, including global poverty and hunger, disease, and lack of access to health and education, all by 2015.