By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Pneumonia killed more than
800,000 babies and young children last year - or one child every
39 seconds - despite being curable and mostly preventable,
global health agencies said on Tuesday.
In a report on what they described as a "forgotten
epidemic", the United Nations children's fund UNICEF, the
international charity Save The Children and four other health
agencies urged governments to step up investment in vaccines to
prevent the disease and in health services and medicines to
treat it.
"The fact that this preventable, treatable and easily
diagnosed disease is still the world's biggest killer of young
children is frankly shocking," said Seth Berkley, chief
executive of the GAVI vaccines alliance.
Pneumonia is a lung disease that can be caused by bacteria,
viruses or fungi. Its victims have to fight for breath as their
lungs fill with pus and fluid.
It can be prevented with vaccines, and treated with
antibiotics and - in severe cases - with oxygen, but in poorer
countries, access to these is often limited.
Nigeria, India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo
and Ethiopia accounted for more than half the children who died
of pneumonia last year - most of them babies who had not reached
their second birthday.
"Millions of children are dying for want of vaccines,
affordable antibiotics and routine oxygen treatment," said Kevin
Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children. "This is a
forgotten global epidemic that demands an urgent international
response."
The report said pneumonia causes 15% of deaths in under-5s,
but accounts for only 3% of spending on research into infectious
diseases, lagging far behind other diseases such as malaria.