13 November, 2025
Despite significant progress in recent years, pneumonia remains a leading cause of child mortality, claiming hundreds of thousands of young lives every year. On World Pneumonia Day 12th November 2025, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which ERS is a founding member, called for urgent, coordinated action to prevent pneumonia deaths, particularly among children under five and other high-risk populations.
According to the latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD 2023) estimates, pneumonia killed 2.5 million people globally in 2023, including 610,000 children under five and 79,000 children aged 5–14 years (GBD 2023, IHME). Among newborns (<1 month), approximately 186,000 deaths were reported. The UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME 2021) reports similar trends, with 726,000 children under five dying from pneumonia, including 538,000 children aged 1–59 months and 188,000 newborns (UN IGME 2021).
Guy Marks, FIRS President, says: “Pneumonia is entirely preventable and treatable, yet it continues to claim the lives of too many children in low- and middle-income countries. We have effective vaccines and preventive tools — including new interventions against RSV — but access remains limited. Every child deserves the right to survive and thrive.”
Major pathogens causing pneumonia deaths in children under five include (GBD 2023):
- Streptococcus pneumoniae: 197,000
- Klebsiella pneumoniae: 75,000
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa: 46,000
- E. coli: 33,000
- Staphylococcus aureus: 31,000
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): 27,000
- Influenza virus: 25,000
For newborns (<28 days), the leading causes are Klebsiella pneumoniae (34,000), Streptococcus pneumoniae (24,000), and RSV (9,000) (GBD 2023).
High-risk countries bear the largest burden. For children under five, 60% of deaths occur in just ten countries: India (129,000), Nigeria (94,000), Pakistan (31,000), Democratic Republic of the Congo (22,000), Niger (22,000), Ethiopia (13,000), Chad (12,000), Indonesia (11,000), Tanzania (9,000), and Angola (7,000) (GBD 2023). Globally, leading risk factors for children include malnutrition, household air pollution, lack of handwashing, exposure to tobacco smoke, and high environmental temperatures (GBD 2023).
FIRS is calling on governments, global partners, and donors to take immediate steps to accelerate child survival through:
- Expanding access to lifesaving vaccines: pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) and newly available RSV vaccines and long-acting monoclonal antibodies.
- Strengthening health systems to ensure timely diagnosis, antibiotics, and oxygen therapy reach every child.
- Addressing key risk factors such as malnutrition, household air pollution, and low immunisation coverage.
- Promoting maternal and newborn health through vaccination, breastfeeding, and neonatal care programs.
- Supporting research and innovation to develop cost-effective interventions for low-resource settings.
- Committing to global targets: The Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) aim for no more than 3 pneumonia deaths per 1,000 live births by 2025, equivalent to approximately 400,000 deaths (WHO GAPPD 2021).
“Pneumonia deaths are preventable, but action must be immediate and equitable. With the right investments and policies, we can reach global targets and save hundreds of thousands of children’s lives this decade,” concluded Guy.