Pneumonia killed 7,640 children under the age of five in South Sudan last year, or one child every hour, according to UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality analysis.
Save the Children, UNICEF and the Every Breath Counts coalition say the disease is one of the leading killers of children in South Sudan, causing 20 percent of under-five deaths in 2018 due to inequality, poverty and lack of access to health
They are calling on the South Sudan government to urgently commit new resources to tackle this disease as steps to address it will support basic health services needed for malaria and diarrhoea.
Rama Hansraj, Country Director, Save the Children in South Sudan said ‘health facilities in South Sudan are overwhelmed with pneumonia cases with more than 7,000 deaths in 2018’.
He adds that pneumonia in South Sudan complicated with other childhood diseases like anaemia and malaria and lack of health services makes things more dangerous.
‘We are appealing for urgent support from the global community and the government to save the lives of children in urgent need of affordable vaccine, antibiotics and oxygen treatment’, Hansraj pleaded.
Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF Representative in South Sudan, said ‘pneumonia is among the top killer diseases of children under five in South Sudan. Solutions to prevent, diagnose and treat pneumonia are well known’.
‘The Government of the Republic of South Sudan, the Ministry of Health, UN agencies and the donor community need to join efforts to combat pneumonia through Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and equitable access to quality primary and community health care’, he stressed
Leith Greenslade, Coordinator of Every Breath Counts, said ‘for decades the leading killer of children has been a neglected disease and the world’s most vulnerable children have paid the price.
He added that ‘it’s time for governments, UN and multilateral agencies, companies and NGOs to join forces to fight pneumonia and protect these children’.
The organisations are calling on the South Sudan government to develop and implement a Pneumonia Control Strategy to reduce child deaths.