Today 11 November 2021, the world celebrates another World Pneumonia Day, a day set aside to raise awareness on the single biggest infectious killer amongst children, reportedly responsible for the death of about 2.5 million people.
World Pneumonia Day history dates back to 2 November 2009 with more than a hundred organizations, coming together in what is known as the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia.
Pneumonia, a preventable and treatable disease, kills about 1.6 million people each year and is the number 1 killer of children under 5 years of age.
It basically targets the air sacs in one or both lungs, filling them up with liquid, hence inhibiting the intake of oxygen and breathing.
Symptoms of pneumonia include coughing with might be accompanied by mucus or pus, chills, difficulty in breathing, and fever.
The World Pneumonia Day 2021 theme is “Stop Pneumonia, Every breath counts.”