The Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report for 2016 which was released by International Vaccine Access Centre(IVAC), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that the top five countries with highest global burden of child pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths are India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
"The top 15 countries contributing to the global burden of child pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths were unchanged between 2015 and 2016. These 15 highest burden countries consist of India, Nigeria, Pakistan, DRC, Angola, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Chad, Afghanistan, Niger, China, Sudan, Bangladesh, Somalia, and United Republic of Tanzania," it said.
India introduced rotavirus vaccines in four states in 2015, it said.
"Fifteen years after pneumococcal conjugate vaccines' (PCV) first introduction globally in 2000 (the United States was first to implement the vaccine), five of the highest pneumonia burden countries (India, Indonesia, Chad, China and Somalia) are still not using the vaccine in their routine immunisation programs," the report said.
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The Health Ministry recently announced that the PCV that can combat pneumonia, will be rolled out as part of the Universal Immunisation Programme, in a phased manner in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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IVAC identifies the 15 countries with the greatest number of deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea among children under the age of five in a given year.
IVAC then uses a scoring method based on the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) developed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
A country's "GAPPD score" measures the use of interventions that protect against, prevent and treat pneumonia and diarrhoea. The higher the score, the more interventions are being used.
"Over the past year, some large countries, including Nigeria, DRC, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China had little to no improvement in their GAPPD scores, while others, including India, Angola, Niger, and Bangladesh have made substantial gains," the report said.
"Pneumonia and diarrhoea fly under the radar. These illnesses are so common that many people and organizations fail to recognize the need to step up efforts and identify creative solutions to fight them.