IVAC at Johns Hopkins announces grant recipients of World Pneumonia Day Advocacy Program

The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) announced today recipients of the 2012 Small Grants for World Pneumonia Day Advocacy Program. The Small Grants Program supports events and activities that promote pneumonia prevention and control in countries where childhood pneumonia has the greatest impact.

In this, the 4th year of the small grants program, 12 grants have been awarded thus far and additional grants may be announced later in the year. Congratulations to the following Recipient Organizations:

• Burkina Faso: Association of Community Health and Development (ASCOD)
• Cameroon: Front for Inter-School awareness on STD / AIDS (FISS-MST/SIDA)
• Cote d'Ivoire:Stop Tuberculosis Bouake
• Ghana: Association of People for Practical Life Education (APPLE) in collaboration with Reliance Network (R-Net)
• Haiti: Haitian Pediatric Society
• India: Global Health Strategies, India
• Nigeria: Breath of Life; Vaccine Network; University of Ibadan; Pediatric Association of Nigeria
• Philippines: Philippines Foundation for Vaccination
• Zambia: Social Workers Association of Zambia (SWAZ)

Pneumonia is the world's leading killer of children under five, claiming nearly 1.3 million children under five years of age in 2011, over 90% of whom are in developing countries. Over the last decade, global health leaders have worked to turn the tide on pneumonia by promoting access to interventions that protect against, prevent, and treat the disease for the children who need them most. In this spirit, a diverse group of advocacy, academic, and service organizations formed the Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia in 2009. The Coalition recognizes a World Pneumonia Day each year to raise awareness of the disease and advocate for funding and implementation of proven interventions.

Commemorated annually on November 12th, World Pneumonia Day has earned the attention of public health leaders, medical professionals, journalists, policy-makers and community advocates as a day to raise awareness and create action to combat this "forgotten killer."