Marking the first international World Pneumonia Day on November 2nd, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) plans to immunize 130 million children in poor countries against pneumonia, the world's leading child killer which is responsible for one in four children's deaths. Each year, pneumonia kills approximately 1.8 million children less than five years of age, making it the leading child killer. GAVI CEO Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt says a child dies of pneumonia every 15 seconds and 98% of those deaths are in poor nations.
He added that the most effective way to prevent pneumonia deaths is to provide easy access to safe and affordable vaccines.
Lob-Levyt said GAVI's Accelerated Vaccine Introduction initiative aims to speed up the introduction of pneumonocal vaccines to vaccinate approximately 130 million children in 42 countries by 2015.
The plan also aims to introduce the vaccine against rotavirus, which causes diarrhoea, another major killer, in 44 countries. Together, the introduction of the two vaccines could save the lives of up to 11 million children by 2030.
To fund the plan, GAVI will need to raise up to an additional USD 4 billion between 2009 and 2015.
World Pneumonia Day is a wake-up call to the international community to support scale-up of available vaccines and medicines, invest in intervention programs, and save millions of children from an entirely preventable death. The fight against pneumonia is a collective responsibility and an important step for the international community in reaching the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, including the goal to reduce the death of children under 5 by two thirds.
On November 2, 2009, advocates will also kick off the first annual World Pneumonia Day with a summit in New York City. More than 100 scientists, political leaders, donors, public health organizations and the media will gather to discuss pneumonia prevention and treatment and other ways to protect children from pneumonia.
GAVI is mobilizing the world to demonstrate caring for about the 2 million children under the age of five who will die in 2009 from pneumonia by wearing blue jeans to work or school or wherever you go on November 2nd.
Why blue jeans? GAVI spokesperson said that blue jeans is a symbol of the color of children when they get pneumonia before they die. - Kuna