Pneumonia: the forgotten killer of children.

This report examines the epidemiological evidence on the burden and distribution of pneumonia and assesses current levels of treatment and prevention. The results are sobering: Only about 1 in 5 caregivers knows the danger signs of pneumonia; only about half of children sick with pneumonia receive appropriate medical care; and according to the limited data available less than 20 per cent of children with pneumonia received antibiotics the recommended treatment. Effective interventions to reduce pneumonia deaths are available but reach too few children. Scaling up treatment coverage is possible and at relatively low cost. Estimates suggest that if antibiotic treatment were universally delivered to children with pneumonia around 600000 lives could be saved each year at a cost of $600 million. Furthermore the number of lives saved could more than double to 1.3 million if both prevention and treatment interventions to reduce pneumonia deaths were universally delivered. (excerpt)