BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – In advocating that no child dies as a result to pneumonia, a Non-Governmental Orgainsation (NGO), ‘Save The Children’, has called on the federal government to increase budgetary allocation to help prevent death related issues in the country.
The call was made at a stakeholders meeting in commemorating the 2018 world pneumonia day, organised by Save The Children in Abuja.
In a statistics made available by the Save The Children, shows that the disease killed about 920,000 children in 2015 just as 735,000 children could die in 2030 alone if the current trend of treatment and prevention remains, adding that about 5.3million lives could be saved from pneumonia over the next 15 years with good intervention.
Speaking at a workshop, Save the Children International Country Director, Ben Foot, advised the Federal Government to ensure that at least one per cent of the consolidated revenue provided for the National Health Act is budgeted and released yearly to provide basic healthcare at the primary level.
He said about 170 million children globally are yet to receive the vaccine, adding that lots of lives would be saved by immunising children against the disease.
Foot, noted that two children under five years die from the infection every minute and therefore urged governments and other relevant agencies to come together to tackle the killer disease.
He also urged the government to support the creation of a Trust Fund for immunisation to ensure sustainable funding for vaccines and encourage public and private sector to invest in local vaccines.
Also speaking, UNICEF Health Specialist, Dr. Emedo Emmanuel, said pneumonia is a major killer of children in Nigeria, yet it is under reported, under recognised and under diagnosed.
Emmanuel said that for a disease that ranked among the highest killer of children in Nigeria, there was need for adequate attention in terms of investment, advocacy, knowledge creation and action on ground to save children.
“Be that as it may, there is equally need to invest a lot more, focus a lot more on where the needs are.
“We have identified that pneumonia is one of the three big killers of children in Nigeria so that requires adequate attention in terms of policy action and investment,’’ he said
Similarly, the Chief of Party Pneumonia Project, Save the Children, Dr. Adamu Isah said the workshop was specifically organised to raise awareness about the very big problem that affected a lot of Nigerian children.
Isah said that pneumonia killed more than a 120,000 children in 2017 and it had now become number one killer even worse that malaria and HIV in children under five years old.
Isah also stressed the need to have a health system where pneumonia could be easily and quickly recognised not just by doctors but by other health workers because it is hard for most health workers to recognise it.
