What this progress report and World Pneumonia Day illustrate, along with every other “disease day,” is that health routinely takes a back seat to other issues that require funding and global attention, especially when the countries bearing the brunt of a disease burden are low-income or don’t hold strong international influence. Like the prevention of polio, TB, or malaria, pneumonia requires targeted, though not necessarily expensive, interventions. Pneumonia also suffers from lack of public awareness–HIV, for example, gets much more press coverage. I’d wager that if polled, most people would guess that HIV and not pneumonia is the number one killer of kids in developing nations. This is not to say that HIV treatment and prevention efforts do not require more investment; on the contrary, they are woefully underfunded, as are most global health interventions. As I’ve written too many times before, more funding is needed, which looks unlikely in the current global climate. One day, perhaps, the world will wake up and realize that the right to health and equitable access to health care are as vital to economic development, strong societies, and good governance as every other human right. Advocates must carry on pressing for more funding for global health, even if such arguments proceed to fall on deaf ears. For now, those working in global health organizations must continue to use existing funding to develop, implement, and prove the efficacy of simple, low-cost health interventions: a rapid test, a trained community health worker, or a shot in the arm.
*It’s unclear however, how certain cases of HIV and pneumonia are separated–it’s a common opportunistic infection for newborns who are HIV-positive, which is why a newborn whose mother has HIV should be administered the antibiotic Cotrimoxazole as a pneumonia prophylactic before their own serostatus has been determined.
Header photo, of aspiration pneumonia, by KGH, CC BY-SA 3.0.