Preventing the scourge of childhood pneumonia
Bulletin Issue 21, October 2009
On 2 November the first annual ‘World Pneumonia Day’ is taking place. Millions of people, particularly children, die in developing countries from this totally preventable disease. The Bulletin talks to a leader in the struggle to end its hold on the world.
“...the tragedy is that we have the means to prevent this happening.”
Head of Pathology at the Christchurch campus Professor David Murdoch is working to raise the world-wide awareness of pneumonia prevention methods. |
For Professor David Murdoch, head of Pathology at the Christchurch campus, pneumonia is uppermost in his mind at present, particularly childhood pneumonia on an international scale.
Professor Murdoch is deeply involved in the fight against pneumonia through his membership of the Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE) which is organising events around the world on 2 November to raise awareness and spur governments into action. His career as a microbiologist, and a doctor who has worked in Nepal and other developing countries, makes doing something about the scourge of pneumonia almost a personal mission.
“I find it deeply concerning that death from pneumonia is still the number one killer in children under five in these nations,” he says. “For every child who dies from pneumonia in a developed country like New Zealand, 2000 die in the underdeveloped world! And yet the tragedy is that we have the means to prevent this happening.”
Those preventative measures are principally vaccines which are safe and effective. But they are still not widely used in many developing nations because governments have not yet applied for available international funding.
“Only 20 of the 71 countries that are eligible for funding for the pneumococcal vaccine through the GAVI Alliance have applied so far, although progress is being made. The main reasons seem to be associated with political inertia and the lack of awareness of the potential impact of this vaccine.”
Professor Murdoch says the international community needs to redouble its efforts to raise awareness about prevention and treatment of infectious diseases like pneumonia if we are going to meet the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of two thirds reduction in mortality of children under five.
More information can be found at www.worldpneumoniaday.org
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