In 2015, at least one million children under the age of five died of this preventable and treatable disease. Many of these children lived in the world's poorest countries, with limited access to health care services, adequate nutritious food, and basic sanitation. Yet pneumonia is one of the most solvable problems in global health. Indeed, since 2000, annual global child deaths from this common disease have dropped by half. More needs to be done.
In honour of World Pneumonia Day on November 12, join the Centre for International Child Health as we raise awareness of the global burden of pneumonia and celebrate efforts from across BC Children's to fight this preventable and treatable killer.
With funding from the recent Google.org Impact Challenge, the Centre for International Child Health has recently launched the Pocket Doc for Pneumonia, an innovative project that aims to change the way we diagnose and treat pneumonia, especially in the world's poorest communities.
Safe and effective interventions to prevent and treat pneumonia exist. These include exclusive breastfeeding, adequate nutrition, reduced household air pollution, clean water and sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics. But diagnosis can be difficult, especially in rural and resource-limited settings. Current diagnostic methods are nonspecific (offer respiratory rate measurement alone), expensive (such as x-ray and laboratory tests) or generally unavailable.
The Pocket Doc for Pneumonia addresses some of these issues. This mobile health tool uses a lightweight sensor and a data-driven app to assess a child's vital signs and overall condition, providing real-time individualized risk prediction to allow for timely and effective treatment at first contact, regardless of location. The tool can be used with minimal training in a variety of health systems (both high- and low-resource settings). Work is now underway to design and develop the mobile platform and the prediction algorithms needed to predict risk.
Want to help #stoppneumonia?
On November 12, join the global fight against pneumonia. Here are a few things you can do to help:
- Share information about pneumonia through Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms. Use this advocacy toolkit for ideas, or check out additional resources, graphics, and messages.
- Subscribe to the World Pneumonia Day email list to stay informed about the latest global pneumonia news.
- Take the Pneumonia Fumbler Challenge and lend your voice to children under five.
