Early Identification, Treatment Of Childhood Pneumonia Essential To Reduce Disease’s Burden, Deaths

The Lancet Global Health: Early identification and treatment of pneumonia: a call to action
Karin Kallander of the Malaria Consortium, London EC2A 4LT, and Karolinska Institutet; Deborah H. Burgess of Kimataifa Diagnostics and Devices Consulting; and Shamim A. Qazi of the WHO

“On the seventh World Pneumonia Day on Nov. 12, 2015, we call for action to improve the early identification and treatment of childhood pneumonia at community and outpatient level to reduce deaths. … Early identification of pneumonia and appropriate treatment saves lives. By initiating antibiotic therapy soon after onset of symptoms such as fast breathing in a child with cough, the progression of a pneumonia infection is blunted. … This scale-up will need permissive policies allowing community health workers to detect and treat pneumonia with antibiotics, research and development to improve pneumonia diagnosis, and financial support for introduction and maintenance of pulse oximeters and oxygen therapy in health centers and hospitals” (11/11).

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