It is very sad to note that More than 7,000 children died and 27,000 others under the age of five were affected by the deadly pneumonia virus in Sindh this year. Reportedly, in 2021, more than 46 children above the age of five died and a total of 8,534 people – both children and adults – suffered from pneumonia across the province, making pneumonia the biggest cause of death among children in Pakistan. This deadly disease is caused by bacteria of fungi found in a child’s nose or throat, and it can even infect lungs if inhaled. One of its reasons can be the decrease in the practice of breast-feeding; reportedly, 40 percent women in Pakistan use bottle milk to feed their children, which is also one of the causes of infection.
The mortality rate among children under the age of five years has declined globally by almost 50 per cent, from 90 deaths out of 1000 live births in 1990 to 48 deaths/1000 live births in 2016, mainly due to interventions that led to improvement in mothers and infants care. However, in Pakistan, under-5 mortality rate is 89 per 1000 live births and two third of these occur during the neonatal period (55 per 1000 live births) while 74 per cent of total neonatal deaths take place in the first week of life.
For those trying to curb infant mortality, the solution is not straightforward. Multiple factors come into play, including the amount of medical care available to expectant mothers, their financial circumstances, family stability and basic education on how to care for babies. A nation-wide campaign needs to be launched to fight vaccine-preventable diseases, pneumonia. State lawmakers and health officials must use these shocking facts as a stirring call to action for building long-term approaches to a problem that’s literally killing off our future at its very root. These high figures of child deaths are shocking, unacceptable and put all of us to shame. We do not need rocket science to bring down the deaths. We need to invest more resources in the ‘hard to reach’ areas with vaccinations and treatment of pneumonia.
