The fourth annual World Pneumonia Day was held on November 12, 2012. World Pneumonia Day was launched in 2009 by a broad coalition of public and nonprofit organizations—including the Sabin Vaccine Institute and PACE—to mobilize efforts to fight a neglected disease that kills more than two million children under age five every year.
Pneumococcal disease kills 1.6 million people each year – including 800,000 children under the age of five - and is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Vaccines are available now to safely and effectively protect children and adults against most pneumococcal infections. With increased awareness about this disease, and a commitment to purchase and deliver pneumococcal vaccines to children around the globe, we can save an estimated 5.4 million children’s lives by 2030.
The PACE Global Leadership Award recognizes governments, individuals and organizations that have championed pneumococcal disease prevention and whose actions have contributed toward public policy advances in vaccine introduction.
How to save two million lives
Wiping out the biggest killers of children will require co-ordinated effort in 15 interventions, from clean water to antibiotics to vaccines – not a magic bullet
By Sarah Boseley
High Economic Burden may also be Associated with the Disease in Latin America