Dear Colleagues, Friends, and General Public
It is a great pleasure –as the Global Conference Chair– to welcome you to the 3rd Global Conference for World Pneumonia Day, which takes place on November 10th, 2023 in Lima, Peru.
Pneumonia is the world’s biggest infectious killer, claiming 2.5 million lives, including 672,000 children under five years, in 2019 alone. That is one person dying every 13 seconds. Yet pneumonia remains a neglected disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly placed respiratory tract infections at the centre of public health. In 2021, the estimated burden of deaths from respiratory infections, including COVID-19, was a massive 6 million.
With the theme “Reducing the burden of pneumonia in the Americas”, the 3rd Global Conference for World Pneumonia Day will explore the impact of pneumonia in a region where 323,000 people are dying each year, including 20,700 children under five years of age.
Pneumonia is a preventable disease. Unless we take action now to reduce pneumonia deaths, and with a high risk of another respiratory infection pandemic, millions more adults and children will die from pneumonia over the next decade.
Dr. Catia Cilloniz
Chairman of the 3rd Global Conference for World Pneumonia Day
