One child every 10 minutes is being admitted to hospital in England after being struck down with pneumonia, a “forgotten epidemic” hitting the poorest in society, costing the lives of at least two children every month.
There were 56,210 children admitted as an emergency for pneumonia in the last year, 50 per cent up on a decade earlier. Deprivation plays a key role in the spread of the infection with 2017-18 data showing the 10 per cent most deprived areas of England had the most admissions, at 525 per 100,000 population. This compared with 381 admissions in the 10 per cent least deprived areas. The Blackpool area recorded 640 admissions and the South Tees area had 570 admissions, some of the highest in the country.
Save the Children is campaigning for a global effort against the condition which is the world’s leading infectious killer of children, claiming the lives of more than 800,000 children every year, more than 2,000 every day across the world.
There were 56,210 children admitted as an emergency for pneumonia in the last year, 50 per cent up on a decade earlier. Deprivation plays a key role in the spread of the infection with 2017-18 data showing the 10 per cent most deprived areas of England had the most admissions, at 525 per 100,000 population. This compared with 381 admissions in the 10 per cent least deprived areas. The Blackpool area recorded 640 admissions and the South Tees area had 570 admissions, some of the highest in the country.
Save the Children is campaigning for a global effort against the condition which is the world’s leading infectious killer of children, claiming the lives of more than 800,000 children every year, more than 2,000 every day across the world.
Pneumonia is caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, and leaves children fighting for breath as their lungs fill with pus and fluid. Children with immune systems weakened by other infections or malnutrition, and those living in areas with high levels of air pollution, are at far greater risk of developing the disease.
Nick Roseveare, interim executive director of Unicef UK, said: “We’re lucky in the UK that we have the NHS and a childhood vaccination programme which includes pneumonia and influenza, so fewer children get these illnesses in the first place. Pneumonia can be easily prevented and cured with simple, and cost-effective measures, yet it remains the main infectious cause of death among children under five globally. We can change this, we must change this. We have the knowledge, tools and power to save children from a preventable death.”
Kevin Watkins, CEO of Save the Children, said: “These findings show pneumonia is a disease that affects the poorest children worst of all, wherever they are in the world. But while British children almost always survive, millions of children in poor countries are dying for want of vaccines, a few pence worth of antibiotics, and routine oxygen treatment. With such simple solutions, no child should have to die from pneumonia regardless of where they live..."
Darren Baxter, from anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said the current system, in which some children are trapped in situations that can damage their health, was “unacceptable”. It is wrong that over 4 million children live in poverty in the UK and often find themselves without the safe and secure housing they need to keep them healthy.”
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