Pneumonia tops child deaths, dengue third

PNEUMONIA, gastroenteritis and dengue cases are the top three killers of children in Cebu City, the Cebu City Health Office said yesterday.

Dr. Alma Corpin, chief of the City Health Office’s field program division, said children up to five-years-old are most vulnerable due to their fragile immune system.

“They should seek medical consultation for them to be provided with specific antibiotics for their illness,” she said. Corpin said pneumonia is transmitted mostly through airborne means.

In a report yesterday, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (Unicef) named two pneumonia and diarrhea as the top two leading causes of death for children under five years old.

Inadequate water and poor sanitation are among the key causes, it said.

The same report also stated that 783 million people globally don’t have access to clen drinking water sources while 2.5 billion don’t have sanitation facilities.

The Unicef report likewise stated that pneumonia is responsible for 18 percent of childhood deaths worldwide each year with diarrhea deaths pegged at 11 percent. Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao