Favour Ozioma Ogbodo
Ahead of world Pneumonia day, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that immunisations against viruses, bacteria and fungi should not be neglected in order to prevent the disease.
World Pneumonia Day is celebrated annually on November 11 to create awareness on the virus and educate the general public on steps to take to stay protected.
According to UNICEF 2018 data on pneumonia, in Nigeria, 19% of child deaths were due to pneumonia. It was also named as the biggest killer of children under-five in 2017.
Pneumonia, an infection of the lungs, needlessly affects millions of people worldwide each year but can often be prevented and treated.
CDC, in a report released on their website on Friday, explained that pneumonia can be prevented through prior healthy observations. It noted that it is usually caused by respiratory infection and advised that regular hand washing, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces that are touched a lot should be practiced to avoid infection.
In addition, the agency urged people to cough or sneeze into a tissue, the elbow or a sleeve to curb the spread of the virus. It further stated that limiting contact with cigarette smoke or quitting smoking, on addition to taking good care of medical conditions like asthma, diabetes, or heart disease, will go a long way in saying away from pneumonia.
