UN / WORLD PNEUMONIA DAY ADVANCER (EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 NOVEMBER 2011 1:30 AM GMT)

The World Health Organization reports that out of the 7.6 million children under the age of five who die each year, as many as 1.4 million of them die from pneumonia. This year's World Pneumonia Day, observed 12 November, seeks to raise awareness of pneumonia as a public health issue and help prevent the millions of avoidable child deaths from pneumonia that occur each year. WHO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:57
• Production Date: 11 November 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - WHO
• Subject Topical: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT
• Geographic Subject: MIDDLE EAST
• MAMS Id: U111111e

Description

STORY: UN / WORLD PNEUMONIA DAY ADVANCER
TRT: 1.57
SOURCE: WHO / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 NOVEMBER 2011 1:30 AM GMT
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: NOVEMBER 2011, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

RECENT 2011, PALAIS DES NATIONS-WHO HQ, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, aerial view of the Palais des Nations

NOVEMBER 2011, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, Dr. Shamim Qazi at the WHO HQ
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Shamim Qazi, Medical Officer, Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health:
“Every year nearly 7.6 (million) under five year old children die. 98 percent of them die in developing countries. And the biggest single cause of death amongst those is pneumonia which kills 1.4 million children.”

FILE / UNICEF / AUGUST 2011, DADAAB KENYA

4. Med shot, family waiting to be vaccinated
5. Various shots, children being vaccinated

NOVEMBER 2011, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Shamim Qazi, Medical Officer, Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health:
“Community workers can treat simple pneumonia at home and these guidelines have been there for a long time. Up till now they’ve been identifying severe pneumonia patients and referring them to hospitals. In this study we want to see whether these community workers, when trained properly and given medicines could treat severe pneumonia in the community, at home or not and we found that those children who were treated by the community workers at home did twice as better compared with the ones who were referred because those who were referred either did not get to the level the referral facility or those who reached there did not get standardized treatment. So in that sense there is a double benefit because these children got treated early and they got treated with the proper medicines.”

FILE / UNICEF / 14 FEBRUARY 2011, KENYA

7. Med shot, mothers and children waiting in queue
8. Med shot, a health working vaccinating a child
9. Close up, child crying with tears after being vaccinated

Storyline

In advance of World Pneumonia Day tomorrow (12 November), Dr. Shamim Qazi from the World Health Organization’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health said that the single cause of death among 7.6 million children under the age of five that die every year is pneumonia.

According to the Lancet Medical Journal latest report (11 November) children treated at home for severe pneumonia were more likely to recover than children referred to health facilities. Dr. Qazi said that those children who were treated by the community workers at home did twice as better compared with the ones who were referred.

He stressed that in that sense there was a “double benefit because these children got treated early and they got treated with the proper medicines.”

The World Pneumonia Day seeks to raise awareness of pneumonia as a public health issue and help prevent the millions of avoidable child deaths from pneumonia that occur each year.