Coimbatore: A majority of parents of infants in the country are not even aware of pneumonia as a disease, according to Dr M. Ismail, president, Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP).
“When parents are told their child is suffering from the disease, they admit never having heard of pneumonia. It is a bacterial disease that affects under-nourished infants, especially those who live in unsanitary conditions. Pneumonia is an acute respiratory infection where the air sacks in the lung are filled with fluid instead of air, which makes breathing difficult. The infection often spreads through air-borne droplets from a sneeze or a cough.” he said on eve of World Pneumonia Day, being observed on November 12.
Sharing numbers with DC, he said that across the country, 5, 64,000 people are diagnosed with pneumonia and more than 11,500 people suffer the disease in Tamil Nadu, a majority of them being infants and the elderly. Despite the mortality rate due to pneumonia among under-five having reduced since 2011, as on 2016, India recorded the highest number of deaths due to the disease.
In May this year, the Union minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mr. J P Nadda announced the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV 13) in our country's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).
