Issue 40, published on October 2009.

Childhood Pneumonia

Child health is improving in Cambodia. The latest available fi gure from 2005 estimated the underfive mortality rate to be 83 per 1000 live births, a big improvement compared to the 2000 estimate of 124. However, this is not the time for complacency. More than 30 000 children still die every year in Cambodia before they reach the age of 5 years. One in fi ve of these children dies because of pneumonia, which is the single most important cause of death in children. Therefore, I am very pleased that Health Messenger is giving pneumonia control the attention it deserves.

Pneumonia deaths can be reduced in two principal ways. First, children who fall ill with respiratory infections must be properly assessed and must receive effective treatment promptly. This requires that parents recognise the signs that mean they should take the child to a health worker and that all health workers have the necessary knowledge, drugs and equipment to provide good care. The second way of reducing pneumonia deaths is by preventing children from falling ill in the fi rst place. Many episodes could be avoided through improved nutrition, especially by exclusive breastfeeding and by immunization. There are vaccines against some of the organisms that cause pneumonia and as manager of the National Immunization Programme, I am particularly proud to announce that Government will introduce a vaccine against Hib, the second most common cause of severe pneumonia during 2010.

I hope all health professionals will read this issue of Health Messenger and learn from the articles, not only to improve their management of childhood pneumonia, but also to become better at educating mothers about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and how to recognise signs of pneumonia.

Let us work together and improve our pneumonia control and save 6000 children every year from dying of pneumonia. This will also help us to achieve Cambodia’s Millennium Development Goal for children.

Professor Sann Chan Soeung
Deputy Director General for Heath
Manager National Immunization Programme
Ministry of Health