World Pneumonia Day 2012 celebrates in Baguio City

November 12 - World Pneumonia Day 2012 was held in Baguio City led by the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination with the support of Baguio City Government headed by Mayor Mauricio Domogan, GSK Philippines and other pharmaceutical companies.





During the celebration, hundreds of adults and children got vaccinated to prevent pneumonia cases in the country. Mayor Mauricio Domogan himself got vaccinated.

The Philippine Foundation for Vaccination aims to protect and advocate the promotion of vaccination as an essential tool to combat pneumonia because every day there are 37 children who die from pneumonia in the Philippines. And that adds to the total of 4,300 per day, more than a million deaths in a year.

[caption id="attachment_4826" align="aligncenter" width="600"] PFV, GSK Philippines and other pharmaceutical companies posed for the World Pneumonia Day in Baguio City. World Pneumonia Day is an annual event which started in 2009.[/caption]

Pneumonia is a costly disease and with the help of GlaxoSmithKline’s donation of vaccines for active immunization against invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and acute otitis media(AOM) caused by Streptococcus pneumonia, many Filipino adults and infants got vaccinated for free during the World Pneumonia Day.

What should we know about Pneumonia?

It is an infectious disease that fills the lungs with fluid causing cough, fever and breathing difficulties. It among children under is the leading cause of death among children under 5 years of age worldwide.

Unfortunately it is always the poor families who get pneumonia diseases. Malnutrition, lack of knowledge and lack of access to healthcare all add up to the problem.





Pneumonia is one the leading cause of death among children among low income countries and Philippines is no. 10



The Philippine Foundation for Vaccination Inc. is a non-stock, non-profit organization to protect and advocate for the promotion of vaccination as essential to disease prevention, especially among infants and children.

Present during the ceremonial vaccination is May Montillano, MD (PFV President) and Lulu Bravo, MD (PFV Executive Director)

Since the first World Pneumonia Day, The Philippine Foundation for Vaccination continues to remind government units to implement vaccination for children.

World Pneumonia Day falls every 12th of November as declared by Global Health Community, it is a day for concerned citizens and policy makers to take action against the disease.