World Pneumonia Day aims to spread awareness about the disease, which is regarded as the world´s biggest infectious life-threatening disease for children under the age of five, and to promote vaccinations to fight against it. The principal message of the day is to emphasize the importance of oxygen for our body. The symbol is a pearl ribbon.
The Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia created the first World Pneumonia Day in 2009 with the intention of educating the public around the world about the severity of the disease. The main initiative is to protect children from the disease and to ensure that every child has access to appropriate preventive and treatment measures. The general motto of each annual campaign is “Healthy Lungs for All”.
South Asia and Africa are the most affected regions, and they get extensive support from WHO, UNICEF and their partners. On the website Child Health Spotlights, UNICEF in cooperation with Save the Children, provide country-specific data (e. g. for Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Peru Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, and South Sudan) about primary healthcare systems and financing, incidence rate of getting infected, trends in mortality rate, preventive measures, immunization and other statistics in a form of downloadable infographics and fact sheets.
EALTHY teaching resources on lungs and pneumonia
EALTHY teaching resources on other respiratory conditions