‘Pneumonia Contributes To Under Five Deaths In Nigeria’
A Research Consultant for International Vaccine
Access Centre (IVAC) Nigeria, Ms. Chisom Obi has
said that Nigeria should strengthen its efforts to
prevent and treat pneumonia as it is the second
leading cause of child deaths. Although
pneumonia is preventable and treatable, an
alarming 6.7 million cases occur every year in
the country. It is estimated that 750,000 children
under the age of five die annually in Nigeria. Of
these, about 127,000 died of pneumonia alone,
accounting for 17 per cent (including neonatal) of
all under-five deaths in Nigeria.
According to her, “many of these cases
and deaths are due to lack of access to
interventions to prevent and treat
pneumonia. Nigeria has introduced
interventions to strengthen efforts
towards pneumonia control through the
local production of dispersible
amoxicillin tablets, which is currently
the first line of treatment for
community-acquired pneumonia.
Another is the phased introduction of
the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine
(PCV) a highly effective vaccine against
the commonest types of pneumococcal
diseases into the routine immunization
system in December 2014. It is expected
that PCV will be fully scaled to the whole
country by early 2016.”
Ms. Obi noted that the country has
commenced the process of introducing
the integrated community case
management for malaria, pneumonia
and diarrheal diseases. “However, gaps
still remain in the general knowledge of,
and in the diagnosis of pneumonia
especially at the lower level of health
care service delivery (primary health
care centres and rural communities).
There is also poor access to technologies
such as X-ray machines and pulse-
oximeters for diagnosis and oxygen
therapies for treatment.
“We now have an opportunity to create
visibility to the multifaceted pneumonia
response in the country, for a more
unified and integrated pneumonia
control agenda; the WHO and UNICEF
Global Action Plan for the Prevention
and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhea
(GAPPD) calls for an integrated approach
to pneumonia and diarrhea control with
interventions to protect, prevent, and
treat the diseases.
The GAPPD also sets out coverage targets
for key interventions to end preventable
child deaths from pneumonia and
diarrhea by 2025.”
She added that every year, progress of
the 15 countries with the highest-burden
of child mortality from pneumonia and
diarrhea are assessed through GAPPD
scores, developed by IVAC; Nigeria has
an insignificant two per cent gain in
GAPPD pneumonia intervention score
and so it is imperative to improve access
to fight this preventable and treatable
disease that contributes significantly to
under-five deaths in the country.
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