Officials warn against pneumonia-related infant de

A statement from the Health Ministry reveals that pneumonia, an ailment easily preventable with early diagnosis and the right medication, is the leading cause of infant deaths in Turkey



ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

  Pneumonia is the most common cause of infant mortality in Turkey, the Health Ministry said in a statement drawing attention to the preventability of deaths caused by the disease amongst children.

  The state minister said a significant majority of pneumonia-related deaths in children could be prevented through timely diagnosis, the right antibiotics and early treatment.

  The statement said 12 million children under the age of five died across the world every year, due to pneumonia-related causes. “Despite higher living standards, the availability of effective antibiotics, advanced intensive care and supportive treatments, the frequency of pneumonia cases and the number of pneumonia related diseases have been increasing, unlike many outer infectious diseases.

  “In our country, pneumonia, which is a preventable disease, is the leading cause of a significant majority of deaths in children younger than 1 year,” read the statement.

  The Ministry was working on projects to facilitate improvement in care of newborns, to ensure that infants are breastfed and the proper application of preventive vaccination. The statement emphasized that influenza usually laid the ground for pneumonia, underlining that any delay in taking infants and children to health centers, their being subject to cigarette smoke, eating the wrong foods and other negative environmental factors could easily transform the simplest infection into pneumonia.

  The statement urged parents to take their children to a health center immediately in the case of their developing coughing and a fever or signs of respiratory difficulty such as fast or labored breathing. The statement said: “If you child has a blocked or stuffy nose, clean their nose and make sure the child gets a large amount of water and liquid foods. Breastfeed your babies more often, keep their rooms humid and never smoke in the presence of a baby.”

  Mother's milk was described as a “miraculous food” for babies in the statement, which also underlined the importance of starting to breastfeed babies for six months from the time they are born, continuing to do so alongside other nutrients until the age of two if possible. Nursing a child until two years of age protects them from a variety of diseases the statement noted, adding that pneumonia-caused infant deaths were lowest in children still being nursed by their mothers.