Paris (AFP)
Pneumonia, child killer and "forgotten epidemic": this respiratory disease, to which a world day is dedicated Tuesday, killed a young child every 39 seconds last year in the world, more than any other infection, alarmed six organizations, including Unicef.
"Pneumonia killed more than 800,000 children under the age of five last year, one every 39 seconds," Unicef and five other child health and advocacy organizations said in a statement. the NGO Save the Children or the Gavi Alliance for Immunization.
"Most of these deaths affect children under the age of two, of whom almost 153,000 are in their first month of life," say the organization, calling for "global action" against pneumonia.
This acute respiratory infection, which affects the lungs, can be caused by microscopic bacteria, viruses or fungi.
In case of pneumonia, the alveoli of the lungs are filled with pus and liquid, which makes the breathing painful and limits the absorption of oxygen.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), pneumonia is responsible for 15% of the total number of deaths of children under 5 worldwide.
"It's a forgotten global epidemic that requires an urgent international response - millions of children are dying for lack of vaccines, antibiotics and oxygen treatments," said Kevin Watkins of Save the Children.
According to the organizations behind this call, more than half of the pneumonia child deaths are concentrated in five countries: Nigeria (162,000), India (127,000), Pakistan (58,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (40,000) and Ethiopia (32,000).
By comparison, 437,000 children under five died of diarrheal diseases in 2018 worldwide and 272,000 of malaria, according to them.
These organizations will organize a global forum on childhood pneumonia at the end of January 2020 in Barcelona, Spain.
© 2019 AFP