State steps up fight as pneumonia kills thousands of children annually

Tessie Musalia, wife of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi use Pneumonia Charm kit to test , for Pneumonia at Brookfield School, Karatina, Nyeri county during the lighting of Christmas tree for children living with disability on December 19, 2022. [Kibata Kihu, Standard] Around the world, a child dies from pneumonia every 43 seconds, claiming just over 2,000 young lives each day. At a media breakfast in Nairobi on Thursday, Dr Stephen Muleshe, the Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health (MoH), emphasized the silent crisis pneumonia is creating for families. He said: "In Kenya, every breath lost to pneumonia is a call to action, because behind each statistic is a child whose life could be saved with timely care." "Pneumonia is the leading killer of children during the neonatal period, yet it remains under-prioritised in visibility, funding and research. "To reduce mortality among children with pneumonia, we must promote timely care-seeking within communities and expand access to accurate, affordable diagnosis and treatment across all levels of the healthcare systems. "This includes improving the availability and use of resources such as medical oxygen, medicines and respiratory support technologies, which are still limited in many health facilities." In 2019, data from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) showed that 14 per cent of deaths among children under five were caused by pneumonia, placing Kenya 28th among pneumonia contributors in sub-Saharan Africa. According to Winnie Muhoro, head of the Newborn and Child Health section at the Ministry of Health (MoH), pneumonia-related deaths are closely linked to poverty. "These include undernutrition, lack of access to safe water, exposure to air pollution and limited availability of healthcare services," she said. Poverty also affects caregivers' health-seeking behaviours. Many do not take their children to health facilities as expected, while others resort to alternative methods to treat pneumonia. Critical symptoms of pneumonia in children include rapid breathing, persistent cough, fever, difficulty drinking or eating, grunting and loss of consciousness. The presence of one or more of these symptoms should prompt caregivers to take the child immediately to the nearest health facility. Pneumonia is caused by bacteria, viruses and fungi, with the most common culprits being Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae type b and Respiratory Syncytial Virus. The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) shows that early care-seeking, on the same day or the following day, for acute respiratory infections was low, at just 44 per cent. In other words, only four out of every ten children showing symptoms were taken to a health facility for treatment. According to Muhoro, pneumonia can be prevented or treated through "simple, proven solutions." Prevention and treatment measures include encouraging nursing mothers to practise exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, immunizing children with recommended vaccines and administering the correct antibiotics at the right dosage. Other ways to combat the disease include ensuring adequate indoor ventilation and providing sufficient, nutritious food. "We have not yet met our Sustainable Development Goal of reducing under-five mortality to at most 25,000 deaths. As of 2022, the figure stood at 41,000, but we are not where we started," Muhoro says. According to the 2022 KDHS, counties with the highest prevalence of under-five pneumonia are Narok (11 per cent), Mandera (10.5 per cent), Marsabit (8.6 per cent), Wajir (8.4 per cent), Samburu (8 per cent) and Kericho (8 per cent). Dr Muleshe said the Ministry of Health (MoH) is scaling up prevention, diagnosis and treatment interventions to combat pneumonia. Some of the strategies the ministry has developed, adopted and is implementing include the Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI), Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM), Essential Medical Care (EMC) and the Kenya Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (KAPPD). Dr Muleshe was representing the Director General of Health, Dr Patrick Amoth, at the 2025 World Pneumonia Day commemoration, held in Siaya County on November 12.

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