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Review
. 2004 Jul;15(3):181-9.
doi: 10.1053/j.spid.2004.05.010.

Pneumonia in children in the developing world: new challenges, new solutions

Anne Schuchat  1 , Scott F Dowell
Affiliations
Review

Pneumonia in children in the developing world: new challenges, new solutions

Anne Schuchat et al. Semin Pediatr Infect Dis. 2004 Jul.

Abstract

Pneumonia has been a leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries as long as health indicators have been available. Yet the issues of concern for this syndrome are far from static. Improvements in access to health services have lowered infant mortality rates, benefiting children around the world and lowering the fraction of child deaths caused by pneumonia. However, progress has been interrupted repeatedly by the emergence of new pathogens. Landmark randomized controlled trials have now demonstrated the effectiveness of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and multivalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines against childhood pneumonia, as well as meningitis and bacteremic disease. Momentum has gathered to tackle long-standing economic obstacles to expand access to new vaccines and programs for the poorest countries of the world. A pressing challenge for the control of pneumonia in developing countries is to identify better metrics for pneumonia. Surveillance tools are needed that will bridge studies of interventions, establish preventable disease burden, and serve as indicators for monitoring new programs.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Deaths from pneumonia and from other causes in childhood from 1939 through 1996 in the United States. Gaps in the curves indicate changes in the International Classification of Diseases codes. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Annual percent change in rates of mortality from pneumonia and from other causes in infants and older children, from 1939 through 1996. The curves were smoothed by using a 3-year moving average (ie, the percent change for each year is an average of the changes for that year and for the previous and subsequent years). Reprinted with permission.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Weekly rates of invasive pneumococcal disease in the United States, January 1996 to December 1998. Weekly numbers of cases from active surveillance areas in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Tennessee were divided by the population under surveillance that year and multiplied by 52 to give annualized weekly rates. Reprinted with permission.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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