Treatment of childhood pneumonia at the community level with amoxicillin dispersible tablets

Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in children in the developing world, killing about 1.2 million children under five per year. The number of children with pneumonia symptoms who receive medical care is extremely low, and as a result, they are not properly treated with antibiotics. A child receiving antibiotic treatment within the first 24 hours of displaying bacterial pneumonia symptoms can be saved. Many countries are currently attempting to increase access to appropriate treatment through community-based initiatives such as community case management — and appropriately so, because studies show that by increasing the coverage of integrated interventions to 90%, we can, by 2025, reduce the number of global under-five pneumonia deaths by 67%. In response to these high but preventable infant and child mortality rates, the child survival community has declared an unambiguous commitment to rapidly scaling up efforts to increase access to antibiotic treatment for pneumonia.