Rare gram-negative bacteria are emerging as new causes of childhood pneumonia.

— Dr Mohammod Jobayer Chisti Senior scientist at icddr,b

Approximately 2-3 children die every hour from pneumonia in Bangladesh, according to icddr,b.

In Bangladesh, at least 24,000 children die every year from pneumonia, which is 24 percent of all deaths in under-five children, show results from multiple studies.

Globally, pneumonia remained the top infectious killer of children under five, with 0.7 million deaths annually, representing 14 percent of all such deaths.

The research papers were presented yesterday at a discussion, organised by icddr,b, titled "Childhood Pneumonia: Are We Doing Enough?" in the lead-up to World Pneumonia Day which is observed on November 12.

Dr Mohammod Jobayer Chisti, a senior scientist at icddr,b, presented some of icddr,b's research studies on pneumonia.

The research was conducted by Dr Chisti, Dr Nur Haque Alam, Dr K Zaman, and Dr Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, which have been successfully trialled and piloted in Bangladesh and elsewhere.

The previous five years have seen stagnation at roughly 7.4 fatalities per thousand live births, coupled with an estimated 4 million new cases and roughly 677,000 hospitalisations annually, according to icddr,b.

This is in spite of significant reductions in mortality over the decades.

Dr Chisti highlighted that the causes of pneumonia in children in Bangladesh differ from the global scenario.

He emphasised the unique causes of pneumonia in hospitalised Bangladeshi children, with studies from 2019 and 2021 illustrating a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria.

These findings show that rare gram-negative bacteria are emerging as new causes of childhood pneumonia, he said.

Dr Chisti pointed to icddr,b research confirming that improving air quality within homes could halve pneumonia mortality risks, while hand washing could reduce cases by around 21 percent.

"Vaccine studies conducted by icddr,b in 2007 and 2020 have identified vaccines suited to the local context, including the RSV vaccine for pregnant women, which is proving to be a valuable tool in preventing severe pneumonia and hypoxemia (low level of oxygen in the blood) in infants," added Chisti.