QUETTA: A report presented by Unicef officials revealed that over 24,000 children die of Pneumonia in the country every year which is caused by a bacterium called Streptococcus Pneumonia.

This was disclosed by Unicef officials Dr. Tariq Iqbal and Dr. Aurangzaib Kamal at a workshop held in connection with introduction of newly launched Pneumococcal Vaccine (PCV10) here on Thursday.

The workshop was jointly organized by Unicef, Government of Balochistan and Society of Social Development.

“According to a survey report compiled from the data of government and private hospitals,about 663,000 Pneumonia cases are reported every year in Pakistan and over 24,000 children suffering from Pneumonia out of total number of these cases die of the disease,” they said.

They said that material mortality rate at national level is 272 out of every 100,000 and child mortality rate 94 out of every 100,000.

They added that annual maternal mortality rate in Balochistan is 785 out of every 100,000 and child mortality rate is 89 out of every 100,000.

They said that Unicef in collaboration with the Provincial government was going to launch Pneumococcal Vaccine (PCV10) in January 2013.