India Among 15 Nations Tops in Child Pneumonia Deaths: IVAC Study – Breastfeeding for six months, early diagnosis and medicine, effective health delivery and smoke-free cooking could prevent the deaths in developing countries Hyderabad ,Nov 21: India, an emerging economic superpower along with China in Asia, but with below 1 per cent of its GDP spending on public health, registers the highest number of child pneumonia deaths in the world.
Yet, it has not yet introduced the new generation anti-pneumonia vaccinations (PCV 10/PCV13) in its immunization programme along with China, Indonesia and Burkina Faso which also had competed with India in recording high pneumonia related deaths.
“As many as 3- 4 million child deaths could be prevented by accelerating use of pneumococcal vaccines in all developing countries over the next decade,” says A Pneumonia Progress Report-2011 released recently by the International Vaccine Access Centre(IVAC) under the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health(USA).
The report, based on a study of 15 developing countries with disturbing incidence of Pneumonia, had also suggested a 4-pronged strategy to augment the drive to save more children from the scourge.
1. Promoting exclusive breastfeeding of the kids during their first six months of life to boost immunity to infection;
2. Facilitating early detection of symptoms to administer appropriate anti-biotics on time;
3. Strengthening health delivery systems and care on routine basis; and
4. Limiting exposure to indoor smoke by increased use of smoke free stoves.
While the governments had been making all efforts to promote breast feeding through public spending, the early detection of Pneumonia, leave alone other diseases, has become increasingly difficult in the developing world, mostly due to illiteracy, negligence and lack of awareness even among the literates until the situation goes out of hand.
The rich could afford going to the costly corporate hospitals for treatment whereas the poor approach the mostly ill-equipped government hospitals at the eleventh hour, risking the life of the kids, resulting in increasing mortality.
Notably, Indian health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had recently announced increase of the health budget to 2 – 3 per cent of the GDP during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) keeping in mind the demand for the sector as a social welfare measure.
Another major problem, also admitted by the WHO, is use of smoke emitting traditional stoves for cooking that work on fossil fuel in a majority of the rural areas in the 15 countries studied by the IVAC.
Some regional governments in India,, like Andhra Pradesh, had introduced schemes to offer gas stoves and LPG connections free of cost or on subsidies to the poor. But it had become a major burden to the exchequer in the hydrocarbon controlled economies.
India recorded the highest 371,605 child pneumonia deaths in 2008 followed by Nigeria (177,212), Congo (112,655), Pakistan (84,210), Afghanistan (80,694) and China (62,229).
Yet, there was “no action” till date on the introduction of the new generation PCV10 and PCV13 Pneumococcal Vaccines in India, China, Indonesia and Burkina Faso into the national immunization program.
Only Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya had introduced the vaccines, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Bangladesh had applied while Pakistan, Angola, Niger