Initiative

Indian Chapter of Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal Disease Prevention Launched

The international wing of ASAP was launched in December 2007 in Seoul

Healthcare professionals in India came together for the launch of the Indian Chapter of Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal disease prevention, or ASAP-India recently, to protect more children from the risk of Pneumococcal Disease (PD) in the country, in partnership with the Indian Academy of Paediatricians (IAP).

The international wing of ASAP was launched in December 2007 in Seoul, South Korea, by a group of healthcare professionals who recognised the need for greater urgency in creating awareness and tackling the challenge of PD through vaccination programmes. Said Dr Nitin Shah, Chairperson, ASAP-India, "Launch of the ASAP-India is an important step towards creating PD awareness in our country.” Pneumonia is responsible for 19 per cent of deaths of those under five and accounts for nearly two million deaths worldwide. India contributes 20 per cent of the total under-five deaths worldwide —India has 2.2 million children under five years dying every year from all disease conditions. Out of these, 19 per cent die due to pneumonia and 50 per cent of these are due to pneumococcal pneumonia — nearly 0.2 million deaths every year. “Through ASAP-India, we hope to reach out to as many people as possible to generate awareness and protect our children from dying of pneumococcal disease," he added.

The objective of ASAP-India chapter is to collate and disseminate available data on disease epidemiology within the region and to create awareness and engage with policy makers regarding the importance of PD and its prevention. As part of its local strategy, ASAP-India will organise PD conferences in six cities in India, after launching it in Mumbai in association with IAP. Dr RK Agarwal, IAP President and Co-Chair ASAP-India, said, "IAP is proud to support this important initiative taken towards making people aware of the burden of pneumococcal disease. India is the first country to launch a local chapter in the Asian region and ASAP-India has IAP's full support. The formation of ASAP-India is a call to action to raise the level of awareness of PD, facilitate the exchange of information and insights on the disease, propose solutions and push for more preventive measures to be taken."

The choice of 'ASAP' as an acronym was deliberate because of its popular association in the public mind with 'As-Soon-As-Possible' — the healthcare professionals want to drive home the message that immediate action needs to be taken to prevent PD and save lives. In developing countries around the world, PD is considered to be the leading cause of children's death. The report 'Pneumonia: The Forgotten Killer of Children' published by WHO/UNICEF in 2006, says that more than half of all pneumonia cases worldwide occur in the Asian-Pacific region. Of the 133 million childhood pneumonia cases around the world in 2005, India accounted for 44 million and China accounted for 18 million. Five of the top 10 countries with the highest burden of PD are in Asia —Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.

At present, the Pneumococcal Conjugated Vaccine or PCV, is the first and only vaccine to prevent invasive PD in infants and children younger than 24 months. PCV helps to protect against disease caused by seven serotypes (strains) of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as pneumococcus. Dr Shyam Kukreja, Convener of ASAP-India, said, "ASAP-India will identify a number of strategies which it aims to carry out over the next few years to achieve its objectives. One of these is the systematic collation of country-wide information on various aspects of the disease. ASAP-India will not only share knowledge and experiences gained in the prevention and management of PD, but will also actively engage policy makers in the process."

To enhance target audience reach and accelerate the dissemination of information on PD, ASAP-India will seek the co-operation of the media on educational campaigns and other promotional initiatives.

EH News Bureau