On September 13, the Global Coaltion Against Child Pneumonia sent a letter to President Obama, signed by dozens of global health organizations, about the importance of pnemonia prevention programs. Read the entire letter below.
Dear Mr. President:
We applaud your leadership on improving global maternal and child health and urge you to support further action in the fight against pneumonia, the leading killer of children under five. We are heartened by your goal of saving three million children’s lives within your Global Health Initiative (GHI). As a global coalition representing more than 100 organizations committed to fighting pneumonia, we wish to underscore that reductions in child mortality on this scale will not be achieved without a greater focus on preventing and treating this killer disease.
Every year more than one and a half million children in the developing world die due to pneumonia.
If developing countries had the resources required to prevent and treat pneumonia, the lives of almost one million children under age five could be saved every year.1 Proven, cost‐effective interventions to prevent and treat most cases of pneumonia already exist. Thanks to the launch of the Advance Market Commitment pilot last year, pneumococcal vaccines costing only $3.50 per dose are now available and can protect a child for life against the leading cause of pneumonia. Antibiotics costing as little as $1 per child can effectively treat children sick with pneumonia.
The mammoth scale of the disease burden of pneumonia and the existence of cost‐effective prevention and treatment interventions make action on this leading killer absolutely vital to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4. By supporting a comprehensive package of interventions for children under five we can help prevent and treat many of the conditions and diseases that affect the lives of children and their families.
Accordingly the Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia urges you to:
- Adequately resource the Maternal and Child Health Account within USAID in FY 2012 and assure a country‐by‐country strategy to achieve your mission under the GHI;
- Highlight the need for progress on pneumonia prevention and treatment as an essential component of the global effort to achieve the MDGs, beginning at the upcoming UN General Assembly Summit reviewing progress towards them; and
- Advocate for greater support across governments and in partnership with the private sector to implement the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia, as endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2010.
By working together, we can conquer pneumonia ‐ the leading killer of children – and with sufficient support from all stakeholders we can ensure that key prevention and treatment interventions are delivered as part of an integrated child survival strategy.
Thank you for your leadership and commitment to the world’s children and their families.
