Every breath counts 

It’s impossible to ignore the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has gripped the lives of everyone around the world, but it is equally impossible to ignore the thousands of lives that are lost daily to chest infections (pneumonia). According to UNICEF, pneumonia is the single largest cause of death in children under five and the majority of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. 

Pneumonia needn’t be the deadly infectious disease that it is today. Through immunization, nutritional interventions, and controlling environmental risk factors the burden of child pneumonia can be reduced.

Progress in reducing pneumonia deaths in children under five has been significantly slower than for other infectious diseases and more needs to be done.  

Clinical trials play a crucial role in improving the evidence for the right drug, dose, duration and delivery of medicines for children. However, there are currently very few trials that are aimed at the optimal management of children admitted to hospital with severe pneumonia. For the well-being of these children, this needs to change and PediCAP is now recruiting across Africa to try and help answer these questions.

PediCAP is actively engaged in supporting clinical decision-making for severe childhood pneumonia requiring inpatient care in lower and middle-income countries.