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Forty per cent of parents still do not seek medicare when their children display pneumonia symptoms, pushing pneumonia as the leading cause of child mortality in Bangladesh and globally.
Globally, the risk of death is five times higher if children with pneumonia have hypoxaemia (low oxygen in blood) compared to those without hypoxaemia pneumonia.
The prevalence of hypoxaemia is 31 per cent globally, whereas it is 40 per cent in Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, the risk of death from hypoxaemia is 22 times higher, especially in children with co-morbidity or malnutrition or diarrhoea, according to studies published in The Lancet.
The situation calls for increased public awareness, health specialists shared this at a discussion styled 'Childhood Pneumonia: Are We Doing Enough?' on Thursday in the lead-up to World Pneumonia Day on November 12.
The discussion was held at the head office of ICDDR,B in Dhaka.
Renowned paediatric specialist Dr Md Abid Hossain Mollah, BIRDEM General Hospital and Ibrahim Medical College, provided the foundational perspective.
Dr Mohammod Jobayer Chisti, a ICDDR,B senior scientist, presented some research studies on pneumonia.
According to the studies, pneumonia remains the top infectious killer of children under five globally, with 0.7 million deaths annually, representing 14 per cent of all such deaths.
The scenario is direr in Bangladesh as two to three children die every hour from pneumonia, with an annual toll of 24,000 deaths, which is 24 per cent of all deaths in under-five children.
Despite substantial reductions in mortality over the decades, the past five years have seen stagnation at about 7.4 deaths per thousand live births.
Again, an estimated 4.0-million new cases are found and approximately 677,000 hospitalised every year.
Dr Chisti emphasised the unique causes of pneumonia in hospitalised Bangladeshi children, with studies from 2019 to 2021, illustrating a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria.
The available vaccines recommended can prevent pneumonia among infants, children, mothers and elderly.
The findings, however, showed that rare gram-negative bacteria were emerging as new causes of childhood pneumonia.
Pointing to ICDDR,B research, Dr Chisti confirmed that improving air quality within homes could halve pneumonia mortality risks, while hand washing could reduce cases by around 21 per cent.
Exclusive breastfeeding practices have been shown to significantly decrease the risk of pneumonia, making infants 15 times less susceptible.
The Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022 data indicates a decline in these practices in Bangladesh (from 65 per cent to 55 per cent in five years).
Childhood malnutrition also can amplify the risk of pneumonia by 15 times.
Dr Chisti's development of a low-cost bubble CPAP device at ICDDR,B has also been credited for its 75 per cent reduction in mortality compared to standard WHO oxygen therapy.
ICDDR,B executive director Dr Tahmeed Ahmed said pneumonia was the leading cause of child mortality now.