Childhood pneumonia in developing countries

doi:10.1136/bmj.38975.602836.BE

BMJ 2006;333:612-613 (23 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.38975.602836.BE

Editorial

Childhood pneumonia in developing countries

Refinement of clinical algorithms is a priority

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Despite major advances in our understanding of the burden andepidemiology of childhood acute respiratory infections, almosttwo million children still die from pneumonia each year, accountingfor 20% of deaths in children aged under 5 years globally.¹² Accurate figures are difficult to obtain, but the estimatedincidence of pneumonia is 151 million new cases a year, and,of these, some 11-20 million (7-13%) are severe enough to requirehospitalisation.² These composite figures do not reflect thetremendous inequity both between and within countries, withthe bulk of pneumonia deaths affecting the poor with limitedaccess to services.³

The crucial first step in tackling childhood pneumonia is beingable to diagnose it accurately, a challenge highlighted in thisweek's BMJ by Hazir and colleagues.⁴ They analysed 1848 chestradiographs of children in Pakistan hospital outpatient settingswho had had non-severe pneumonia diagnosed clinically accordingto World Health Organization guidelines. . . . [Full text of this article]

Zulfiqar A Bhutta, Husein Lalji Dewraj professor and chairman

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
(zulfiqar.bhutta@aku.edu)

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Chest radiography in children aged 2-59 months diagnosed with non-severe pneumonia as defined by World Health Organization: descriptive multicentre study in Pakistan: Tabish Hazir, Yasir Bin Nisar, Shamim A Qazi, Shazia F Khan, Mujahid Raza, Shehla Zameer, and Syed Asif Masood
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