Pneumonia claims 50,000 children a yr

Nearly 50,000 children aged under five years died of pneumonia annually in the country.
Besides, as many as 6,00,000 children are affected by pneumonia every year, health experts told a workshop at the Dhaka Reporters Unity in the city yesterday on the occasion of World Pneumonia Day-2011.
Adviser to the Prime Minister for Health Dr Syed Modasser Ali attended the workshop as the chief guest. Prof Ruhul Amin and Dr Sumir Kumar Saha of Dhaka Child Hospital, child specialists and journalists addressed the workshop.
Modasser said Bangladesh earned international recognition in the field of health in terms of checking maternal mortality rate and improving the nutritional status of children.
The present government will take effective steps for prevention of pneumonia, he added.
The experts stressed the need for ensuring adequate healthcare facilities for pneumonia to reduce child mortality.
The health experts said pneumonia is the single largest cause of death in children worldwide.
Every year, it kills an estimated 1.6 million children under the age of five years, accounting for 18 percent of all deaths of children under five years old worldwide, they added.