Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal disease prevention (ASAP) has demanded the Union government to include pneumonia vaccine in the routine national immunization programme as the country accounts for 27 per cent of the global pneumonia cases, followed by Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“Pneumonia caused by two bacteria: Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcus. The disease is preventable through vaccination,” said Dr Nitin Shah, chairperson, India chapter, Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal disease prevention.

“The awareness levels in India are too low for pneumococcal disease that kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. The government’s move to introduce a pentavalent (five-in-one) vaccine which includes Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), one of the two bacteria causing pneumonia and meningitis is a good move. But the government should follow this up with the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) which immunizes children against pneumonia and other diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae,” he added.

India cannot achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing child mortality by two-thirds unless we tackle the pneumonia and diarrhoea burden in the country. Africa and Asia account for the highest numbers of pneumonia cases and deaths. Two African countries, Rwanda and the Gambia, have introduced PCV in their routine immunization schedule with the financial support of GAVI Alliance, a global agency that supports vaccination programmes in developing countries including India.

Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal disease prevention) India chapter was launched in partnership with the Indian Academy of Paediatricians on October 19, 2008.

The objective of ASAP-India chapter is to collate and disseminate available data on disease epidemiology within the region, create awareness and engage with policy makers regarding the importance of pneumococcal disease and its prevention. As part of its local strategy, it has been organizing pneumococcal disease conferences in various cities in India.