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Pneumonia major killer of children
KATHMANDU, NOV 01 - Every year, 11,000 children under five years of age die of pneumonia, despite the state's claim that its efforts to contain child mortality are paying off.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), over 58,000 children aged below five years die of various diseases, including pneumonia.
"We have made considerable progress in reducing child mortality, but it's true that thousands of children die of various diseases every year. Pneumonia is a leading child killer. We are not focusing as much as we should on containing the respiratory disease," according to Dr. Shyam Raj Uprety, director at the MoH's Child Health Division (CHD).
Dr. Uprety says protection, prevention and treatment are the only means available to save children from pneumonia. Feeding mother's milk for six months after birth and nutritious food thereafter, vaccination against the pneumococcus bacteria and Haemophilus influenze pneumonia are the ways to go. But these vaccines are quite beyond reach for many, for they are expensive.
From April 14, said the CHD director, the MoH initiated the first phase of vaccination against pneumonia in 25 districts of the West and Far-west regions. "The health ministry will launch the programme in other regions from mid-November along with the government's ongoing nationwide community-based integrated management of childhood illnesses (CB-IMCI) programme."
According to MoH statistics, over eight million babies are born every year, 82 percent of them at home in unprotected and unsafe condition. There is a high risk of neonatal mortality owing to the lack of skilled health professionals.
In its bid to curb neonatal mortality, the ministry has launched free delivery services in all district hospitals, primary heathcare centres, health posts and sub-health posts from Jan. 14 this year.
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