Sri Vijaya Puram, Nov. 11: Childhood pneumonia continues to be a major public health concern and remains one of the leading causes of under-five mortality in India, accounting for 17.2 percent of the under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR).
SAANS (Social Awareness & Action to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully) campaign from Nov. 12, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027 will ensure health system strengthening and community awareness towards childhood pneumonia. The SAANS campaign 2026-27 will carry the tagline “Pneumonia Nahi, Toh Bachpan Sahi” which clearly establishes the positive impact of a Pneumonia Free Childhood.
World Pneumonia Day will be observed tomorrow (Nov. 12) with an aim to accelerate action against Childhood Pneumonia by generating awareness on protection, prevention and treatment aspects, to enhance early identification and care seeking behaviours (management) among parents and caregivers; and also, to promote Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) and awareness generation on indoor and outdoor pollution. SAANS (Social Awareness & Action to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully) campaign will create awareness & mobilize community towards increased adoption of health promotive behaviours and practices for Pneumonia Protection, Prevention and Treatment which will intensify the action for reducing mortality due to childhood pneumonia.
The general public have been requested to extend their co-operation to ANMs and ASHAs during community approach for early identification of cases of childhood pneumonia and early management of Pneumonia in under-five children.