Childhood Pneumonia

CHILDHOOD PNEUMONIA WORKING GROUP

Adult and Childhood Lung Health Scientific Section, The Union
Authors: Eric McCollum, Rebecca Nantanda, Leith Greenslade

Overall Goal

To establish a child pneumonia hub within the Union to:

• Amplify evidence and policy solutions with the capacity to accelerate reductions in child pneumonia deaths
• Strengthen community of practice across child pneumonia researchers and advocates linked to The Union and beyond
• Influence the global agenda on child pneumonia through high visibility convenings and presentations at major global health events, including the annual Union World Conference on Lung Health

Given the concentration of child pneumonia deaths in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the group is committed to supporting scientists, research institutions, and implementation research based in these countries.

Background

Each year pneumonia kills more children less than five years of age than any other infectious disease, according to the Global Burden of Disease The most recent data estimate that 610,000 children died from pneumonia in 2023 . Almost all of these deaths occur in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and three in every four are in the Sub-Saharan African (307,000) and South Asian (160,000) regions.

Although child pneumonia mortality has fallen by 56% since 2000, these reductions have lagged other leading causes of child death, including diarrhea (-72%), measles (-80%), meningitis (-63%), and tuberculosis (-59%) (2). To achieve the child survival Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by 2030, child pneumonia deaths need to fall to below 400,000.

This target is achievable using existing prevention, diagnosis, and treatment tools, many of which are under-implemented in high burden settings. Key interventions include:

• Vaccines targeting the leading causes of pneumonia, including pneumococcus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
• Improved diagnostic tools, including emerging AI-enabled technologies
• Medical oxygen systems and pulse oximetry
• Child appropriate antibiotic formulations
• Nutrition interventions targeting severe malnutrition –the key pneumonia mortality risk factor– including breastfeeding, small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS), and treatment of wasting using ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF)

Aligned with the Prevent, Protect and Treat (PPT) framework for pneumonia control, additional priorities include:

• HIV prevention and treatment
• Reducing household air pollution, especially exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke and biomass fuel emissions

If governments act decisively to ensure that every child can access this full package of proven interventions—vaccination, early diagnosis, medical oxygen, appropriate antibiotics, and nutrition support—pneumonia would be transformed from the leading infectious killer of children and countries would make rapid progress to achieving the child survival SDG.

The Union’s expertise and longstanding activism to highlight tuberculosis and other lung diseases pertinent to LMICs, positions the organization to elevate child pneumonia on national, regional, and global health agendas. The Union has yet to incorporate child pneumonia as an area of focus despite its clear mandate to lead on child lung health. The working group will support The Union to address this, serving as a multi-disciplinary child pneumonia hub for researchers, policy makers, implementation partners, healthcare providers, and donors

Members

The group seeks to engage leading and emerging child pneumonia researchers, especially those based in LMICs. In addition, government officials, global health agencies, NGOs and civil society, and professional societies are all welcome.

 Members will benefit from:

• Quarterly meetings, including at least one in-person convening
• A regular email newsletter highlighting the latest peer-reviewed research, conferences, funding opportunities, and more
• Access to a global directory of child pneumonia researchers
• Opportunities to present in child pneumonia sessions during major global health conferences
• Participation in an annual World Pneumonia Day webinar (12 November)

Member activities will be highlighted through the newsletter, website, and social media channels.

Join the Working Group

Union members can select groups in their membership account here or get in touch on membership@theunion.org

For more information, contact:

Eric McCollum - emccoll3@jhmi.edu
Leith Greenslade -  leith@justactions.org