Pneumonia and diarrhoea: Tackling the deadliest diseases for the world’s poorest children, 2012.
UNICEF
This report makes a remarkable and compelling argument for tackling two of the leading killers of children under age 5: pneumonia and diarrhoea. By 2015 more than 2 million child deaths could be averted if national coverage of costeffective interventions for pneumonia and diarrhoea were raised to the level of the richest 20 per cent in the highest mortality countries. This is an achievable goal for many countries as they work towards more ambitious targets such as universal coverage.
Pneumonia and diarrhoea are leading killers of the world’s youngest children, accounting for 29 per cent of deaths among children under age 5 worldwide – or more than 2 million lives lost each year (figure 1). This toll is highly concentrated in the poorest regions and countries and among the
most disadvantaged children within these societies. Nearly 90 per cent of deaths due to pneumonia and diarrhoea occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Sanitation Updates 