LAHORE, Nov 14: Pakistan ranks fourth among the 15 top countries which account for three quarters of childhood pneumonia cases worldwide.

Quoting latest estimates and a study on ‘global pneumonia disease burden’, a senior official says that Pakistan lies in the top five countries which account for 99 per cent of childhood pneumonia cases.

Requesting anonymity, he says one of the leading factors behind the increase in number of pneumonia cases and death among children is that 46 per cent of the child population in Pakistan remains unvaccinated.

Of the 15 countries, he says, India is on top of the list with 44 million childhood pneumonia cases every year followed by China (18 million) and Nigeria (7 million).

The total disease burden in these 15 countries has been reported 113 million and this is sufficient to raise eyebrows of the global health bodies like World Health Organization and the Unicef which have been asking the successive governments to take measures to bring down the ratio.

Quoting WHO estimates, the official says pneumonia is most prevalent in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. “An estimated 99 per cent of children who die of pneumonia live in the developing countries,” the report reads.

Each year, the official says, there are more than 150 million episodes of pneumonia in young children in developing countries.

He says as the winter season is approaching fast the number of such cases may increase by 20 per cent or so.

He says the vaccines hold promise of saving millions of children from dying of pneumonia. The vaccines against pneumococcus, Hib, pertussis, measles can prevent a significant portion of pneumonia cases from ever occurrence.

“The increase in vaccine coverage will also save 209 million lives and prevent 52 million cases of illness,” according to the study.

About the pneumonia vaccine and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in Pakistan, the official says the EPI was launched in Pakistan during 1976. “The EPI aims at protecting children against nine vaccine preventable diseases -- polio, tuberculosis, pertussis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, Hib disease measles, and (pneumonia is the latest addition).”

He says pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (pneumonia vaccine) was introduced in Pakistan’s EPI programme in October 2012.

He laments that despite government’s efforts, an unavoidable 46 per cent of the child population all over the country still remains non-immunised leading to child mortality.

He says the international health partners have again insisted on the government accelerating child health interventions to meet Millennium Development Goal 4: Reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

The official says the government and the international health partners, including WHO, have not so far conducted assessment or research to evaluate impact of the newly introduced pneumococcal vaccine on the health of the young patients suffering from pneumonia despite a lapse of one year.