If you fall into the first category, then you’ll be happy to know World Pneumonia Day isn’t just another day on the calendar, but rather an opportunity to raise awareness of the No. 1 killer of children worldwide and garner support to help stop this deadly disease.

As the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) reports, since this time last year on World Pneumonia Day 2010, 23 additional countries have introduced the pneumococcal vaccine to their immunization programs, 16 of which were introduced with support from GAVI. In just the last year, the report also found that in the 15 countries with the highest pneumonia burden, 500,000 more children were vaccinated against pertussis; more than 1 million additional children were vaccinated against measles, and 155,000 more children were vaccinated against Hib pneumonia. Tremendous progress is being made in speeding up access to new vaccines in developing countries. Over the next decade, 158 million additional children in low-income countries will be protected by the pneumococcal vaccine.

Chances are, as an avid ONE member, you probably fall into the second category. You haven’t met a cause you aren’t afraid to tackle and you spent the spring tirelessly championing for GAVI and got major results. The bad news is, in the same 15 high burden countries, access to care facilities, treatment with antibiotics and exclusive breastfeeding are all below optimal levels to protect and treat pneumonia, so the fight isn’t over yet.

As the IVAC report highlights, pneumonia is one of the most solvable problems in global health. We have the tools and know how to tackle this disease — yet it remains the world’s leading killer of children. Progress in vaccination must continue and efforts to protect and treat pneumonia must be scaled up. This World Pneumonia Day, share these resources about pneumonia with your friends and family, and by this time next year let’s have even more good news to celebrate.

As a music lover and former CEO of MTV Networks International, I’ve spent decades trying to give voice to young people struggling for creative freedom. More recently though I’ve also taken to a new cause: the struggle of babies and children in poor countries just to survive.

Few people can even name the leading global killer of young children — it’s pneumonia — and it claims a child’s life every 20 seconds. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of these deaths take place in the developing world where access to health prevention and care is sometimes complicated.

World Pneumonia Day (WPD), November 12, is an opportunity to remember those many young lives lost to pneumonia which could have been prevented in large part with vaccines, access to simple antibiotics and improved nutrition. If we could ensure that existing vaccines reach those children who need them most we would make a huge difference in preventing the more than 1.5 million young lives lost each year to this devastating disease.

Until recently, it would have taken 10 to 15 years for a vaccine released in the United States or Europe to be available in the developing world. Thankfully, the GAVI Alliance has been able to dramatically accelerate that timeline for the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccines, bringing them to the developing world much faster. GAVI is an innovative and effective organization which aims to use the same model for other lifesaving vaccines.

This weekend, in time for World Pneumonia Day, Malawi will become the 16th GAVI-supported country to introduce this life-saving vaccine. Three million children living in developing countries have already been reached, and another ten million are expected to receive the vaccine in 2012. This fact is especially important when one considers that 98.5 percent of pneumonia deaths occur in less developed countries, where distance, poverty and other factors put medical care out of reach for many.

As parents, we would stop at nothing to protect our children if they were sick. Many families — in rich and poor countries alike — are living in poverty or debt as a result of sickness in the family. By preventing disease in the first place, immunization can eliminate the need for hospitalization or expensive medical treatment, and in many cases help families avoid succumbing to poverty.

The introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine into the world’s poorest countries is a cornerstone of GAVI’s ambitious plan to ensure that all of the world’s children have a healthy start in life. But much remains to be done. Millions of children still do not receive this vaccine as well as other routine immunizations, and GAVI will need the continuing support and commitment of its donors to ensure that they do.

By 2015, the GAVI Alliance plans to help about 60 countries introduce this vaccine into their routine immunization systems, reaching a total of 90 million children. By helping to protect children with vaccines, GAVI partners and donors are supporting a major contribution to the Millennium Development Goal 4 which calls for a two thirds reduction in child mortality by 2015.

Key to this contribution has been GAVI’s Advance Market Commitment (AMC), an innovative finance mechanism that has accelerated the production of pneumococcal vaccines. By concluding long-term supply agreements at a ceiling price, the AMC reduced market uncertainty, thereby encouraging manufacturers to develop adequate production capacity and supply at lower prices. The AMC was made possible with US$ 1.5 billion from Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Norway, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is part of a broader GAVI plan to ensure that all children have equal access to life saving vaccines.

This World Pneumonia Day, join me in spreading the message that no child should die of a disease we can prevent.

Certainly the funniest vaccine video I’ve ever seen…via GAVI:

An animated infographic that illustrates interesting facts about pneumonia…via World Pneumonia Day. Click on the graphic to see the full version on Facebook:

World Pneumonia Day has produced a powerful cartoon on the effects of pneumonia and the simple vaccines that can prevent it:

Do you have a blog? Join GAVI’s Blog Carnival and join the crowd already making some noise to put a stop to this “silent killer.”

Ever wondered what it’s like to work on the ground to fight against this disease? Learn more by reading Benase Triase’s inspiring story about the difference that new pneumonia vaccines will make to his fight against the disease at a village clinic in Malawi.

GAVI is also running a special blog and video series to spread pneumonia awareness and to call for funding that could prevent the deaths of 1.5 million children worldwide. Check in for updates about their work, send them a note to show them your support, and stay tuned for what you can do to help.

Anything else on the web on World Pneumonia Day that you like? Share it with us in the comments below.

Routine immunization is reaching more Ghanaian children than ever before and the range of available vaccines is growing. No surprise that child mortality in our west African country have almost halved since 1990.

The pneumococcal vaccine, though, deserves a special mention.

By preventing pneumococcal disease, this vaccine protects our children from the leading cause of pneumonia and a major cause of meningitis.

Every year, pneumonia kills thousands of Ghanaian children. Around the world, it kills a child every 20 seconds. Around the world, it is the single largest cause of death for children under five.

But the pneumococcal vaccine will reduce this awful tragedy. By 2030, this vaccine could have saved 7 million child lives.

And as we observe this year’s World Pneumonia Day on November 12, we should consider the fact that this vaccine reached us quicker than any other vaccine before.

Without the innovation and intervention of an organization called the GAVI Alliance, this vaccine could have taken another 10 to 15 years to be available for our children.

For the first time in history, vaccines are reaching children in less developed countries at nearly the same time they reach children in high income countries.

By concluding long-term supply agreements at a ceiling price and grouping country demand into a single order, GAVI reduced uncertainty and gave manufacturers a market incentive to supply developing countries.

Some 16 countries from Nicaragua through to Yemen have introduced this vaccine already, providing life-saving immunization in regions where medical care can be hard to reach.

By preventing disease in the first place, immunization removes the need for prompt hospitalization or medical treatment. In Ghana, 94 percent of our children have access to routine immunization but generally for the developing world, this figure is as high as 80 percent.

Indeed, the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine is a cornerstone of GAVI’s ambitious plan to ensure that all children have access to life-saving vaccines. But plenty remains to be done. Millions of children still do not receive the pneumococcal vaccine.
Immunization against other diseases such as Hib, measles, and whooping cough, also help to reduce pneumonia deaths, even if immunization is not the only way to prevent pneumonia. Breast-feeding, improved nutrition, the reduction of indoor air pollution and antibiotics are important interventions too.

But the pneumococcal vaccine will make a significant difference. By 2015, GAVI expects that 58 countries will have introduced this vaccine into their routine immunization systems and immunized another 90 million children.

This vaccine will do more than prevent pneumonia, because pneumococcal disease also causes pneumococcal meningitis. This nasty condition leaves roughly one quarter of African children who survive it with lifelong disabilities including deafness, seizures, mental retardation, and motor impairment.

By helping to protect these children, GAVI is supporting a major contribution to MDG4, a two thirds reduction of child mortality between 1990 and 2015.

No child should die of a disease we can prevent.

On Friday, a gaggle of Pneumonia Fighters — the official World Pneumonia Day mascot — pranced, wiggled and danced through our nation’s capital, clad head-to-toe in skintight, shiny blue bodysuits made of pure Spandex. Their mission? Urge the public to tell President Obama to take the lead in the fight against pneumonia, the No. 1 childhood killer. The effort was a great way to rally support and raise awareness for the issue, and I think the Fighters were pretty effective!

Since many of you don’t live in D.C. (and therefore didn’t get a chance to witness the event firsthand), I jumped at the opportunity to post the official pictures, taken by photographer David Rotbard, on the ONE Blog. They’re pretty awesome — take a look:

Take a look at some of our Brooke Riley’s photos from the event in the slideshow. She’s on our global health policy team and couldn’t wait to get a photo with the bright blue bodysuit-wearing Pneumonia Fighters, the official mascot of World Pneumonia Day. Be sure to read her captions — as you can already tell from the photo below, she has a little bit of explaining to do!

For World Pneumonia Day this year, I am speaking at the flagship UK event, which is being held in the Houses of Parliament. I will be speaking in front of an audience of parliamentarians, government representatives, leading NGOs and other interested parties, and I am proud that I will be able to relay to them the story of Sierra Leone’s progress in fighting terrible diseases such as pneumonia, the leading killer of children worldwide.

In the recent past, Sierra Leone has had some turbulence, including political instability and conflict. This was reflected in our health care outcomes. Back in 2000, during the Civil War, maternal mortality stood at 1,300 deaths per 100,000 and child mortality stood at 252 deaths per 1,000. These are staggering figures, which suggested a bleak future for my country.

But we have spent the last few years building political stability and moving forward. One of the key strands of our redevelopment has been investment in health care. Since 2000, total expenditure on health as a percentage of gross domestic product has increased by 17 percent, and per capita government spending on health care has doubled since 1995.

Our current president, Ernest Bai Koroma, is particularly strident in improving health care outcomes. Last April he launched the Free Health Care Services for Pregnant and Lactating Women and Young Children strategy. This has had some impressive initial results. The numbers of children and mothers seeking medical health has doubled and the use of anti-malarial drugs for children has increased by more than 372 percent.

We are striding forward, and our maternal and child mortality rates have fallen by an impressive 31 percent and 23 percent respectively.

But we do face significant challenges going forward. Pneumonia is one of these challenges. Each year this terrible disease claims the lives of 8,500 children in Sierra Leone. That is 23 children every day. Together, pneumonia and diarrhea account for an estimated 40 percent of all child deaths.

But we are taking this dreadful disease on. We rolled out the Hib vaccine recently, which protects against one of the major causes of pneumonia, and next year we will roll out the pneumococcal vaccine, which will help to protect children against the leading cause of pneumonia.

This has been made possible through our determination and through the support of organizations such as the GAVI Alliance, who are helping us to roll out the pneumococcal vaccine next year as well as supporting us through recent years. We are also indebted to the work of a number of other key organizations like the ONE.

So, on the occasion of World Pneumonia Day, I am proud to say that Sierra Leone is a country on the move. And next World Pneumonia Day, I hope to be able to report even further progress in tackling devastating diseases such as pneumonia.
For more information please go to the Sierra Leone High Commission website.

Mr. Edward Turay is high commissioner for Sierra Leone in the UK. He has held the position since the beginning of this year and was previously a leading politician for the ruling ACP party in Sierra Leone.

More than 1.5 million kids under the age of 5 die every year from pneumonia.

Who knew?

In wealthy countries, we tend to think of pneumonia as a disease of the elderly, but pneumonia actually kills more young children than HIV, measles and malaria combined. Another child dies from pneumonia every 20 seconds.

Today is a day that’s meant to bring attention to pneumonia, the leading killer of young children. You probably didn’t wake up thinking about World Pneumonia Day, but now that you know, it’s a great opportunity to spend a few minutes to learn how you can make a difference.

Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs that makes it impossible to take in enough air to survive, and is particularly dangerous for children that are otherwise weakened by malnutrition and limited access to proper health care. It can be caused by a range of factors, some environmental (like air pollution) and others by infections. These factors can be easily addressed, so fighting pneumonia is a matter of commitment and funding. That’s where you can help.

For infection control, the single best tool is a vaccine. We have a safe, effective vaccine to prevent pneumonia, and yet because 98.5 percent of child deaths from pneumonia are in low-income countries, many of those children and their families can’t afford the tool that could save their lives.

Fortunately, there’s a well-established organization ready to help poor countries get the vaccine out to children. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was established by donors to pool their funding to buy and distribute new child vaccines. So far, it has helped vaccinate 60 million children for a range of diseases including Hib (Haemophilus influenza b) a major cause of pneumonia. There are also new vaccines against pneumococcal disease, the leading cause of pneumonia, and GAVI plans to introduce these in more than 40 of the world’s lowest-income countries by 2015.

But here’s the big caveat: GAVI’s plans to roll out new and underused vaccines are contingent on sufficient funding, and they face a major funding gap between now and 2015. GAVI needs fairly modest financial commitments to help the world’s most vulnerable, and ONE will be putting the heat on donor governments to step up in the next year.

So now that you know, it’s time to take action, and you’ve got a lot of easy options to choose from:

• Join ONE.org and stay tuned as we prepare for a major advocacy campaign for child vaccines
• Read more about the impressive work of GAVI, and consider a donation to cover the cost of vaccinating a child against pneumonia and other infections
• Spread the word about pneumonia by sharing this video, wearing blue jeans, or encouraging your friends and family to sign a PneumoniaGram.

Sometimes I wish that ONE Blog readers got to decide our global health priorities. Because, as a child survival advocate, you probably already know what many policymakers do not: that pneumonia claims more young lives than any other disease. World Pneumonia Day on November 12 is a chance not only to raise awareness of this terrible disease, but to elevate proven solutions to saving children’s lives.

All told, more than 1.5 million children die needlessly from the disease every year. The source of our shame –- and our hope –- is that many of these deaths could be prevented with safe and effective vaccines. These vaccines have been routinely given to babies in rich countries such as the United States, and recent investments are allowing low-income countries such as Zimbabwe and the Gambia to finally protect their children too.

The scope of the problem cannot be overstated. One child dies from pneumonia every 20 seconds. That’s 4,300 lives lost every day. And 98 percent of these deaths occur in low-income countries. The cost of medical treatment, along with parents’ lost wages to care for their children, reinforces a poverty trap for the poorest of the poor.

On World Pneumonia Day, I respectfully ask that you take one or more small steps on behalf of children, families and communities around the world. Please join us by completing a PneumoniaGram asking our elected officials to make the fight against pneumonia a priority. We will compile and deliver these PneumoniaGrams to world leaders with a unified message that the fight against pneumonia is one we must win.

We can defeat pneumonia — and save millions of lives — by building political support for immunization, expanding the availability of antibiotics, and promoting preventive practices such as exclusive breastfeeding and hand washing.

Visit WorldPneumoniaDay.org to learn specific ways you can help. Leading up to November 12, please spread the message to your social networks, your school or town, your faith community, and your media outlets. Each of us can play an important role in stopping a killer: pneumonia.

Orin Levine is Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at Johns Hopkins University and is Co-Chair of the Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE).

To raise awareness on the importance of providing vaccines and antibiotics treatment for children in the developing world, here are some quick facts about the illness from WorldPneumoniaDay.org:

1. Pneumonia kills more children under the age of five than any other disease, claiming a young life every 20 seconds. That’s 4,300 young lives lost every day!

2. For every child that dies from pneumonia in the industrialized world, 2,000 more die in developing countries.

3. In these countries, children under 5 and under 2 years of age are at risk, especially in the poorest communities.

4. In fact, an estimated 98 percent of children who die of pneumonia live in developing countries.

5. Each year, there are more than 150 million episodes of pneumonia in young children in developing countries, and more than 11 million children need hospitalization for pneumonia.

6. The financial costs of pneumonia include hospital stays and medications, transportation to health centers, and the caretakers’ inability to work or take care of other family members while they are caring for a sick child. Families often must take out large loans to pay for care of their seriously ill child, which may further drag them into deep poverty.

7. Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life is an important and easy way to help protect children from pneumonia and many other diseases.

8. The treatment for most types of serious pneumonia is usually antibiotics, which typically cost less than $1 per dose.

9. Tragically, only an estimated 1 of every 5 children with pneumonia receives antibiotics.

Please spread the word and don’t forget to wear blue on Friday! To find out how you can take action, visit the World Pneumonia Day website.