India marks progress in pneumonia and diarrhoea control, says global report

India has been applauded for its largest positive change in a global report analysing the progress of 15 high-burden countries which are "disproportionately responsible" for global child deaths under five years from pneumonia and diarrhoea.

Titled as 'Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report 2017', the research was released by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health ahead of World Pneumonia Day on November 12.

A 7-point increase was noticed in India’s Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) score.

The researchers claimed that the progress was largely due to changes in coverage of measles vaccine by 1%, haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine by 35%, 3 doses of diphtheria tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP3) by 1%, and rotavirus vaccine (RVV) by 4%.

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According to the report, these percentages translate to a substantial increase in the number of vaccinated children in India.

It also stated that India could save over one billion US dollars each year in economic benefits and avert more than 90,000 needless child deaths each year by introducing and scaling up coverage of vaccination programs targeting pneumonia and diarrhoea.

The countries which were assessed are Tanzania, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Chad and Sudan from Africa and India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China from Asia.