Every year, on November 12, World Pneumonia Day is observed. The number of children suffering from this disease has increased around the world. Afghanistan is one of the nations where pneumonia is still a major cause of death. Many patients and those who died as a result of this disease are children.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, more than 2,300 children have died from this disease in the current year. Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, said that since the beginning of the year, more than one million children have been suffering from this disease and have visited health centers.
“The number of infected people that we have is almost 1.3 million, but unfortunately, the number of deaths is higher than in the past year,” said Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health. Cold weather, food insecurity, air pollution and poverty are considered to be the factors that cause people to get this disease.
With the arrival of winter, most children and adults are affected by this disease. Meanwhile, the doctors of the Indira Gandhi Child Health Hospital said that up to ten children with pneumonia are visiting this hospital every day.
“The cases we admit are severe cases of pneumonia; from fifteen to twenty cases, we admit these patients every day,” said Mohammad Aref Hassanzai, a doctor.
According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, this disease accounts for 14% of all deaths among children under 5 years of age.
