11 November 2011 – Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, WHO announced that a study conducted in Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has shown that pneumonia can be easily controlled and treated at home.
The research was coordinated by WHO, undertaken by Save the Children (United States) in collaboration with lady health workers and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Pneumonia is a preventable and treatable disease that kills 1.6 million each year, around 1.4 million of which are children aged under five. This makes pneumonia the number one killer of children under five, claiming more young lives than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined and accounting for one fifth of all children’s deaths in Pakistan.
While briefing the media, Dr Shamim Qazi, an expert at WHO’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, said the study compared the impact of treating severe pneumonia at home with treatment at a health facility such as a clinic or hospital
“The result of the study shows that children with severe pneumonia who were treated by lady health workers at home with simple, oral antibiotics were more likely to recover than children who were referred to a health facility, as previously recommended by WHO,” said Dr Shamim Qazi.
“It is found that 18% of children suffering from pneumonia had treatment failure in a health facility, while at home the failure rate was only 9%”, Dr Qazi said.
The findings of the research were published on the eve of World Pneumonia Day, on 12 November.