Air pollution leading risk factor for pneumonia mortality .

On Nov 12, 2021

Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate world pneumonia day, experts believe air pollution is the leading risk factor for death from pneumonia across all age groups.

World Pneumonia Day, Every Breath Counts is calling on governments with heavy burdens of pneumonia and air pollution to commit to reducing air pollution-related pneumonia deaths by 50 percent by 2030.

According to the United Nations website, Almost a third of all pneumonia deaths were attributable to polluted air, killing around 749,200 in 2019.

However, household air pollution contributed to 423,000 of these deaths while outdoor air pollution contributed to 326,000.

It also states that ninety percent of air pollution-related deaths are concentrated in 40 low- and middle-income countries.

“In some parts of Africa air pollution contributes to more than 50 percent of all pneumonia deaths. And while pneumonia deaths from household air pollution are declining in Africa, they are tragically increasing as a result of outdoor air pollution”.

A Nigerian Health practitioner, Dr. Oluseyi A. Omokore, said Pneumonia predominantly affects children under five and kills them more because of low immunity.

According to him, the incidence is high in Nigeria due to increasing urbanisation and greenhouse emission. “The incidence of malaria in children under-five is also higher than that of pneumonia but there are more deaths due to pneumonia. Why? Everybody can treat malaria but the situation is not the same with pneumonia. It affects the lungs and most people do not know about it. It is the highest killer of children under five in Nigeria and constitutes 16 percent of total number of under-five mortality.

“The immunisation coverage is low. Despite the fact that there are pentavalent vaccines and pneumococcal vaccines available for protection, they are not readily available, especially in hard-to-reach areas. The response to the treatment of cases in these areas is also very slow and low. The children die in the hard-to-reach communities because the facilities for diagnosis and treatment are not there. Insecurity in most parts of the country is also a major constraint to immunisation. Most of the deaths are caused in hard-to-reach areas.”

Omokore said, Nigerian Government is addressing the situation through Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI). IMCI is an integrated approach to child health that focuses on the wellbeing of the whole child.

Meanwhile, analysis from UNICEF, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Save the Children and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) has revealed that severe pneumonia leaves an estimated 4.2 million children under the age of five in Nigeria and 123 other low- and middle-income countries with critically low oxygen levels each year.

Severe pneumonia affects more than 22 million young children in low- and middle-income countries each year and kills more than malaria, measles and diarrhoea combined.