LiST Analysis Shows Increased Pneumonia Support Could Save 9 Million Lives by 2030

29 January 2020 – Boosting efforts to fight pneumonia could avert nearly 9 million child deaths from pneumonia and other major diseases, a new LiST analysis has found. The findings, shared today at the opening ceremony of the first ever Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia in Barcelona, were generated in partnership with Save the Children and UNICEF.

Pneumonia, a leading cause of childhood deaths worldwide, claimed the lives of 800,000 children last year, or 1 child every 39 seconds. Although some types of vaccine-preventable pneumonia can be easily treated with low-cost antibiotics if properly diagnosed, tens of millions of children are still unvaccinated – and one in three children with symptoms do not receive essential medical care.

The LiST analysis models the impact of nineteen health and nutrition interventions that are effective for reducing deaths from childhood pneumonia. Of the nearly 9 million lives that could be saved if these interventions were scaled up over the next decade, 5.5 million are non-pneumonia deaths from diseases like diarrhea and sepsis (Figure 1) – showing that pneumonia control has the potential to be one of the most efficient strategies for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This week’s Global Forum will bring together leaders in global child health to collaborate to address this deadly but neglected disease; for more information, visit the Every Breath Counts Coalition’s website at StopPneumonia.org.