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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Delta State Government has said it is committed to ensuring that no child succumbs to any preventable and treatable illness, including pneumonia, in the state. Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme, gave the assurance in Asaba during a meeting to mark this year’s World Pneumonia Day, organised by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Paediatric Association of Nigeria-UNICEF Pneumonia Project/Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Philomena Okeowo, the commissioner said pneumonia remained a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under the age of five.
According to him, pneumonia kills “about 800,000 children every year globally, more than any other infectious disease; thus; posing a formidable challenge to our efforts to build a healthier and more prosperous society.”
A consultant paediatrician at FMC, Asaba, Dr. Idaboh Oghenetega, said pneumonia was a childhood silent killer disease of which Nigeria contributed up to 16 per cent of deaths resulting from the disease globally. She sated that pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) could help to prevent the disease, reduce deaths associated to the disease.
Oghenetega who is also state coordinator of PAN-UNICEF Pneumonia Project, seized the opportunity to encourage mothers to make their babies available during the vaccination exercises.
She dispelled the age long held error that pneumonia was caused by cold and listed the major risks factors for childhood Pneumonia to include lack of childhood immunisation, lack of exclusive breast feeding and severe malnutrition.
