Pneumonia Report Card Released by IVAC

A Pneumonia Report Card was released by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC), on behalf of the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia on 12 November 2010. The report evaluated prevention, protection and treatment efforts in India and in 14 other countries that records the most child pneumonia deaths against the pneumonia intervention targets. Pneumonia intervention targets were established in the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) issued by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in 2009. The report card revealed that the need for urgent efforts in India which would enable the nation to reach target levels of coverage for the life-saving interventions that can prevent, protect against and treat pneumonia in children. India has the highest number of pneumonia-related deaths in the world. 370000 or nearly one-quarter of the total deaths caused by pneumonia occurs in India alone. The report specified that pneumonia, which is the world's leading infectious killer among children, claims the lives of nearly 1.6 million children under five every year.