GAC statement in honor of first World Pneumonia Day
Global leaders, organizations and activists rallied together for the first World Pneumonia Day today. The day turns a spotlight on the preventions and treatment the world can invest in to stop the scourge of pneumonia, which kills a child every 15 seconds.
"We know how to stop this tragedy and we can," said Global Action for Children Executive Director Kathleen Guy. "With access to vaccines, antibiotics that cost less than a dollar, breastfeeding, and nutrition, a child can defeat pneumonia and other needless diseases so they have the chance to grow up safe and healthy."
The World Health Organization and Unicef released a Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia in coordination with World Pneumonia Day. The six-year plan outlines how the world can come together and best use the tools we have to protect children against pneumonia.
Protecting children against pneumonia is key to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing under-five child mortality by two-thirds by 2015. Members of the U.S. Congress are taking notice of the importance of global child survival. and Last week Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Global Child Survival Act (S. 1966) to complement Representatives Betty McCollum (D, MN-4) and Dave Reichert’s (R, WA-8) bill in the House (H.R. 1410) that currently has 80 bipartisan cosponsors. For more information on this legislation, please click here.
For more information on the worldwide events occurring for World Pneumonia Day, visit www.WorldPneumoniaDay.org.
