World Pneumonia Day: Paediatrician urges effective immunisation of children

A Paediatrician, Dr. Binta Jibir, has stressed the need for effective immunisation of children below the age of five, to protect them against pneumonia.

Dr. Jibir, the Chief Medical Director of Isyaka Rabiu Paediatric Hospital Kano, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday to commemorate the 2022 World Pneumonia Day.

She said that if parents allowed their children to receive the childhood preventable vaccines, their children would not be exposed to pneumonia.

According to her, “Pneumonia is a number one killer disease amongst children below the age of five, even worse than malaria and diarrhoea.

“A large number of children die of Pneumonia annually, thus the need to utilise this day to caution all stakeholders on the disease,” she said.

She said it was a day used to create awareness among parents, caregivers, and healthcare workers on symptoms and signs of the disease to reduce its morbidity and mortality rate.

Jibir further explained that some of the causative organisms for Pneumonia were preventable.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that November 12 of every year is used to create awareness of pneumonia and to advocate global action to protect, prevent and treat the health condition. The day was first observed in 2009 under the ‘Stop Pneumonia’ initiative by the Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia. 

(NAN)

 

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