UN and partners hail launch of life-saving pneumonia vaccine in Pakistan

The United Nations and its partners announced that Pakistan has become the first country in South Asia to introduce a new vaccine that protects children from pneumonia, the leading killer of children worldwide. The UN estimates that pneumonia accounted for 18 per cent of child mortality, and that four countries, including Pakistan, accounted for more than half the cases across the globe. “As the first country in South Asia to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine, Pakistan’s commitment to immunizing all children against vaccine preventable diseases is to be applauded,” said Dan Rohrmann, Pakistan Country Representative for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “We are proud to partner with the Government of Pakistan in its efforts to inoculate millions of children against a disease that continues to take too many lives,” he stated. In 2011, more than 352,000 children in Pakistan died before reaching their fifth birthday and almost one in five of these deaths were due...