Lok Sabha Question No. 491 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: World Pneumonia Day
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Ganesan Selvam, Gautham Sigamani Pon, Supriya Sadanand Sule, Kuldeep Rai Sharma, DNV Senthilkumar. S., Amol Ramsing Kolhe, C.N. Annadurai, Manjulata Mandal, Sunil Dattatray Tatkare, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Dhanush M Kumar, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 491 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  FEBRUARY 2022

## 'WORLD PNEUMONIA DAY'

## 491:

SHRI SELVAM G.:

SHRI GAUTHAM SIGAMANI PON:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR. S.:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

SHRI C.N. ANNADURAI:

SHRIMATI MANJULATA MANDAL:

SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR:

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

## Will the MINISTER of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has observed World Pneumonia Day recently;
- (b) if so, the details along with the aims and objectives thereof;
- (c) the details of the theme of the event along with the programmes/events organized by the Government on this occasion;
- (d) whether the Government has launched any awareness programme about Pneumonia disease and its prevention and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has recently expanded Anti-Pneumonia Vaccination drive to bring down deaths of children due to pneumonia, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the benefits that are likely to be accrued from the said move and the other concrete steps taken by the Government to curb prevalence of pneumonia in the country?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

- (a)  to  (f):  Guidelines  and  directive  have  been  issued to  States  and  UTs  to  celebrate  World Pneumonia Day on 12 th November 2021 and also  to  observe  SAANS campaign  from 12 th

November 2021 to 28 th February  2022  with  an  aim  to  accelerate  action  against  Childhood Pneumonia.

The objectives of SAANS campaign are -

- (i) To create awareness and mobilize community for Pneumonia Protection, Prevention & Treatment.
- (ii) Early  identification  and  management  of  under-five  children  to  detect  suspected pneumonia cases.
- (iii) Strengthen facility-level management for cases of severe-pneumonia.

Ministry for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India is implementing the SAANS (Social  Awareness  and  Action  to  Neutralize  Pneumonia  Successfully)  campaign  since November, 2019 to address the burden of Childhood Pneumonia.

The SAANS initiative includes:

(i)  360  degree  communication  campaign  to  ensure  greater  awareness  on  childhood Pneumonia  among  families  and  parents  for  early  identification  and  promoting  care seeking behaviours

(ii) Skill building and training of service providers for identification and standardized management of Pneumonia

The SAANS campaign is carried-out with the tagline ' Pneumonia nahi, toh bachpan sahi ' for promoting Pneumonia Free Childhood.

Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) has been introduced in all the States/ UTs under the Universal  Immunization  Programme  (UIP)  for  reduction  in  child  mortality  as  it  provides protection against Pneumococcal disease which is one of the leading causes of death among children under five years of age.

Communication and awareness packages on Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) were developed  and  package  was  shared  with  all  States/UTs  for  creating  widespread  mass awareness about the PCV availability under the Universal Immunization Programme.