Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenya this week joined the rest of the world in marking World Pneumonia Day.
The day which is marked on November 12 of every year was established to draw awareness to the disease and drive governments and stakeholders to take action.
The 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.
This year, the day was marked at Superloaf Primary School in Mowlem, Nairobi under the theme, ‘Championing the fight to stop pneumonia’.
Despite the country making progress in reducing the burden of pneumonia, it remains a leading killer in children below the age of five years.
Data by the Ministry of Health shows about six per cent of children presented for treatment at Outpatient Departments (OPD) in health facilities are due to Pneumonia.
Pneumonia causes between 8,000 to 10,000 annual childhood deaths in Kenya representing about one in five of all child deaths.
The ministry has acknowledged that should the country succeed in reducing pneumonia deaths, it will increase the chances of meeting the global target of reducing under five mortality to less than 25 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030, from the current 41 deaths per 1000 live births.
The Health DG Patrick Amoth outlined the various ways through which the ministry plans to achieve this.
Key on the agenda will be spreading awareness about the symptoms and risk factors of pneumonia through Community Health Promoters (CHPs).
Amoth noted that knowledge is the first step toward early detection and timely treatment.
“The CHPs have now been equipped to be able to diagnose illness in children through their kits,” Amoth said.
“The ministry has been training them on the Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illnesses (ICCM) to be able to educate the community of health, manage mild illness and refer when needed,” he added.
The ministry also seeks to promote good hygiene practices, such as handwashing, wearing of masks when one has a cough, and good ventilation to help prevent the spread of infectious agents that lead to pneumonia.
This ministry is also seeking a multisectoral approach to reduce air pollution by using clean cooking fuels which in turn can reduce pneumonia incidence by up to 75 per cent which is a major risk factor.
“Using cleaner cooking and industrial fuels, using renewable energy like wind, solar energy, and using proper waste disposal mechanisms will go a long way in reducing both indoor and outdoor pollution,” Amoth said.
The ministry also seeks to ensure children in the country receive all recommended vaccinations to significantly reduce the risk of pneumonia.
Amoth has noted that immunisation against the two common bacteria that cause pneumonia (Streptococcus pneumoniae) and Hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), has been shown to result in a 22–35 per cent reduction in the incidence of pneumonia and a four per cent reduction in all child deaths.
To this effect, the national government and county governments are working to increase full immunisation coverage to more than 90 per cent from the current 80 per cent.
In addition, the ministry is striving to improve access to quality healthcare, particularly in remote and underserved areas to ensure every child has access to lifesaving treatments.
Amoth said county governments have continued to increase access to health services.
However, the focus should be on improving the quality of healthcare services provided across the country.
Similarly, the ministry is supporting the scale-up of the use of Amoxycillin DT for the management of non-severe pneumonia through the development of appropriate clinical guidelines for childhood illnesses.
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