Pneumonia kills 1.27 lakh kids every year: Dr Sylvia
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 12 2021: Child Health, State Health Society, National Health Mission (NHM), Manipur launched 'Social Awareness and Action to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully (SAANS), 2021' at the state level during a function held at the conference hall of IMA, Lamphelpat on Friday.

Speaking at the launch function, Child Health, NHM SNO Dr Sylvia informed that children below 5 years of age often suffer from pneumonia and the fatality rate is quite high.

Around 14 per cent of deaths among children is due to pneumonia, with around 1.27 lakh children dying in the country from the deadly infection every year.

According to the SRD-2018 report, 36 deaths per 1000 live birth occur among children below 5 years of age.

One of the goals of the National Health Policy, 2017 is to reduce the infant mortality rate to 23 deaths per 1000 live births by 2025.To achieve this goal, the number of deaths caused by pneumonia should be lowered to 3 deaths per 1000 live births.

As such, the Ministry launched SAANS initiative in 2020 to achieve this target, the SNO further informed.

Dr Sylvia then said that the campaign will be carried out till February 28, 2022 during which the National Pneumonia Management Guidelines, 2019 will be adopted for managing the children suffering from the infection.

In addition, the people will be informed on how to prevent pneumonia and the treatment processes, in case of infection, along with early diagnosis of children suspected to have the infection so as to undergo necessary treatment and information on Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, the vaccination process will also be carried out accordingly.

Thus, to ensure effectiveness of the aforementioned activities, state and district level teams will be monitoring the situation, she stated, while appealing to the people to extend their cooperation in making the campaign a success.

The launch function was also attended by Health Services additional director MD Dr Khoirom Sasheekumar Mangang as chief guest; State Mission Director (NHM) Dr N Shyamjai as president and Health Services additional director MC Dr Lalthari Hmar as guest of honour.

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