Pneumonia is the deadliest disease among children in Pakistan.
It is growing rapidly and creating harmful threats for the younger ones. According to a news report, Pakistan ranks third in the list of 15 high burden countries where pneumonia is alarming high and killing children. It was estimated that more than 71,000 children die of pneumonia every year in Pakistan.
Moreover, every year the death toll increases in comparison to past years. India is the country most affected by pneumonia where 174,000 children die annually, followed by Nigeria with 121,000 deaths. Most countries have successfully eradicated the disease, but unfortunately, Pakistan has failed to do so yet.
It is not like pneumonia cannot be treated, then why do children across the country continue to suffer?
Experts have estimated that the treatment of pneumonia is very expensive and the underprivileged cannot afford it. Among the high-risk age group are children under the age of 5. The death rate is rising because of the failure of healthcare programs and lack of commitment to fight against the disease in Pakistan.
Earlier, World Health Organization (WHO) launched a programme to prevent the disease in Pakistan. The WHO explained that Pakistan should have eliminated pneumonia among children in 2015, but the disease continues to linger on. The program which was launched by WHO was replaced by Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI), an initiative that failed to prevent spread of the disease.
With our lack of care and negligence, are we not exposing our children to high risks?
If our leaders cannot strike a decisive blow to pneumonia, the least they can do is establish more hospitals and provide better healthcare. What they can do is ensure that the funds provided by the WHO are used for the same purpose they were granted for and not transferred elsewhere.
The data mentioned in this report shows that concerned authorities do not seem to pay heed to the plight of many poor families across the country.
Ours leaders have failed us.
But so has the the media with its different priorities. For them, the latest happenings in a celebrity’s life are more important than children dying in the country.
It is high-time our leadership starts embracing community problems as their own and work to eradicate them. Pakistan’s children are their and our children, and we cannot afford to put our future at stake.