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Early treatment may be key to stemming pneumonia deaths

Mpumalanga has the country's fourth highest maternal mortality rate (File photo)
Mpumalanga has the country's fourth highest maternal mortality rate (File photo)
Children, especially those living with HIV, are particularly vulnerable to Pneumonia
Children, especially those living with HIV, are particularly vulnerable to pneumonia (file photo).

Pneumonia is the largest single cause of death in children worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation. In South Africa, pneumonia – together with influenza – is the second leading natural cause of death and was responsible for about 7 percent of deaths in 2011, according to figures released by Statistics South Africa this year.

Today, 12 November, is World Pneumonia Day.

HIV-positive infants are particularly vulnerable to developing pneumonia due to their compromised immune systems, according to Head of University of Cape Town’s Department of Paediatrics and Child Health Dr Heather Zar.

Meanwhile, the key to preventing pneumonia deaths is early treatment, according to University of the Witwatersrand professor and pulmonologist Dr Mervyn Mer.

“We need to pick pneumonia early and treat it early,” said Mer, speaking at a recent media briefing organised by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. “If we got our health care system in order, and people who are diagnosed with pneumonia get their first dose of antibiotics in the first two hours, we could salvage these patients…”

Pfizer Country Brand Leader Victor Behrens added that pneumonia has far reaching consequences.

“Pneumonia creates an economic burden for families, communities and the government,” he told OurHealth. “At the individual level, it can have dramatic effects on a person’s life, including long-term, health-related complications.”

Bacteria, viruses and fungi are just some of the causes of pneumonia, according to the US-based Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

 

Author

  • Thabo Molelekwa

    Thabo Molelekwa joined OurHealth citizen journalists project in 2013 and went on to become an intern reporter in 2015. Before joining Health-e News, Thabo was a member of the Treatment Action Campaign’s Vosloorus branch. He graduated from the Tshwane University of Technology with a diploma in Computer Systems and started his career at Discovery Health as a claims assessor. In 2016 he was named an International HIV Prevention Reporting Fellow with the International Centre for Journalists and was a finalist in the Discovery Health Journalism Awards competition in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Thabo also completed a feature writing course at the University of Cape Town in 2016. In 2017 he became a News reporter , he is currently managing the Citizen Journalism programme.You can follow him on @molelekwa98

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