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More than 6 lakh children die of pneumonia every year. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in 15 percent of children under 5 years of age. This was the World Health Organization's 2017 report. In these 3 years though the situation has not changed much. Around 2.5 million people worldwide, including children and the elderly, died of the disease in 2019.
Pneumonia Day was celebrated two days ago. The Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia declared November 12, 2009 as World Pneumonia Day, primarily to protect children from pneumonia. At that time, the annual death rate of pneumonia in the world was around 12 lakh. In the last 11 years, the death toll has been greatly reduced due to increased awareness. "3 million children in our country have severe pneumonia," said Kaninika. Five out of every one thousand children die of pneumonia. Pneumonia Day is observed to reduce the infant mortality rate from this lung disease. ”
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF aim to raise awareness about pneumonia by 2025.