UN Plan Hopes To Eliminate Childhood Deaths Caused By Pneumonia And Diarrhea By 2025

Childhood deaths caused by pneumonia and diarrhea could be largely eliminated by 2025 through a new "integrated strategy" launched Friday, said two UN agencies.

Orchestrated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the 10-year plan targets these diseases responsible for killing an estimated 2 million children under the age of five every year and to do so through the establishment of standardized care.

"Many factors contribute to these two conditions," states the plan's press release, "so no single intervention can effectively prevent, treat or control either pneumonia or diarrhea. However, as richer countries have demonstrated, a number of elements are key to reducing infections and deaths from both diseases."

These elements include nutrition, clean drinking water and sanitation as well as greater access to health services. Currently, the release reports, only 31 percent of children have access to antibiotics for pneumonia and 35 percent to oral reydration salts for diarrhea. The plan hopes to raise those levels to 90 perecent in the next decade.

Furthermore, the plan calls for children to be exclusively breastfed for a minimum of 6 months after birth - a level those involved hope to increase from 39 percent to 50 percent.

Finally, the plan aims to offer 90 percent of children worldwide with sanitation and safe drinking water, which currently stand at 63 percent and 89 percent respectively.

In order to help fund the efforts, which are estiamted at $6 billion, or $600 million per year, the plan "calls on government and other stakeholders to prioritize investment in the population groups with the poorest access to services to prevent pneumonia and diarrhea." Above anywhere else, this includes sub-Saharan African and South Asia where, according to the agencies, nearly 90 percent of childhood deaths related to the diseases occur.

"This is a question of equity," said Mickey Chopra, global head of UNICEF's programs. "Poor children in low-income countries are at most risk of death from pnuemonia and diarrhea but much less likely to get the interventions they need."