The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is calling for nation-wide action towards tackle the country’s growing pneumonia epidemic. The deadly disease accounts for 17 per cent of all deaths under the age of five, accumulating to the deaths of approximately 130,000 Nigerian children annually. This statement was released in lieu of World Pneumonia Day 2013 by the NMA President, Dr. Osahori Enabulele.
According to Enabulele, there are many causes of the startling figure, including “poor personal, household and environmental hygiene; poor nutrition including the unsatisfactory adherence to the globally hallowed exclusive breastfeeding practice in the first six months of life; and poor nutrition worsened by dwindling economic fortunes of families and communities in Nigeria.”
Additional factors include “the prevalence of household as well as environmental pollution; cigarette smoking by carefree adults, use of firewood in domestic cooking, unmitigated bush burning as well as other forms of air pollution; poor ventilation worsened by over-crowding and unwholesome building construction practices; and crass ignorance as the real cause of the disease, still hold sway.”
Dr Ado Muhammad, Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), is advocating for policy and program implementation to stem the number of child deaths. According to the NPHCDA, less than half of all Nigerian children displaying pneumonia related symptoms are treated, while only 23 per cent of all children receive antibiotics.
The agency is currently planning systematic immunization in eight states, while a new vaccine will be administered in 13 Nigerian states beginning in December.
Nigerian doctors are also calling for strict enforcement of the country’s ban that prevents smoking in public areas. The NWA explained that “enforcing the ban is a step toward protecting innocent children and non-smokers against the dangers of secondhand smoking.”
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Written by Rachel Pozivenec