COMMENT | World Pneumonia Day to expose No.1 killer of young children

COMMENT | Pneumonia kills an estimated 1.4 million children under the age of five every year - more than deaths from Aids, Malaria, and TB combined. It accounts for 18 percent of all deaths of children under five worldwide. One child dies from pneumonia every 20 seconds. Most of these deaths occur in developing countries.

In Malaysia, the prevalence of pneumonia in children under five is between 28 to 39 percent. It is the fifth-highest cause of death in Malaysian children, contributing 3.8 percent of under-five deaths in 2006, and increasing to 5.1 percent in 2016.

For under-five deaths due to pneumonia in 2016, the Orang Asli children had the highest risk of deaths. Non-citizens, Bumiputra Sabah, and “other Malaysian” children also had a significantly higher risk of death due to pneumonia.

This global tragedy becomes even more depressing by the universal finding that only one in five caregivers could recognise the danger signs of pneumonia. Pneumonia often mimics the common cold, starting with a fever and cough and parents may not realise that the condition may be more serious than the flu. And only one in five children with pneumonia actually received life-saving antibiotics...