Pneumonia kills over 170 children annually in Nigeria —Kano commissioner

KANO State Commissioner for Health, Dr Kabir Ibrahim Getso, has said available data  indicates that Pneumonia disease claims  the lives of over 170 children  in the country annually.

The commissioner said the state  recorded 650,000 cases of infected children annually, adding  that there is the  need to prevent the deadly disease so as to safe the  lives of children in the state and the country in general.

Dr Getso said this during the inauguration  of  Pneumococal Conjugate Vaccine (PVC), adding that if the vaccine is effectively administered on children, by 2018, there would be a radical reduction in the death of children.

According to him, pneumonia is a deadly communal disease, adding that available data  indicated that 800,000 children under the age of five years die  yearly  worldwide.

Dr  Getso further  said that pneumonia is a disease that  is affecting everybody in society but children under the age of five and elderly were more  affected.

This vaccine would be administered  on  children under the age of one, six, 10 and 14 weeks respectively, which indicated that children will have it three times in their lifetime,” he said.