Pneumonia Kills 146,370 Nigerian Children Yearly – Paediatricians

Pneumonia is the second major killer of Nigerian children after malaria. Paediatricians, mothers and caregivers who spoke with PUNCH in Lagos, called on government to provide pneumococcal vaccination to fight the disease

Medical experts are worried about the rate at which Nigerians, particularly children, are losing their lives to pneumonia. According to them, about 146, 370 children are killed yearly by the disease. This number, they said, is unacceptable for a disease that can be prevented with simple precautions like immunisation and good hygiene.
They identified ignorance on the cause of the disease, low breastfeeding and non-inclusion of the pneumococcal vaccine in the national routine immunisation programme of the country as some of the factors responsible for the high death rate occasioned by pneumonia.

They warned that if government and parents failed to key into the fight, against pneumonia,  infant mortality might continue to increase especially at the grass roots.

Culled from PUNCH