Save the Children Artist Ambassadors Gwyneth Paltrow and Hugh Laurie join the fight to save millions of children

WESTPORT, Conn. (April 7, 2009) — Save the Children Artist Ambassadors Gwyneth Paltrow and Hugh Laurie join the agency in uniting with child health groups today to establish an annual World Pneumonia Day on Nov. 2, 2009. The day will mobilize efforts to fight a neglected disease that kills more than two million children under the age of 5 each year worldwide.  

Many people are unaware of pneumonia's overwhelming death toll and the disease has been overshadowed as a priority on the global health agenda, rarely receiving coverage in news media. World Pneumonia Day will help bring this health crisis to the public's attention and encourage policy makers and grass roots organizers alike to combat the disease.

A Bangladesh health worker with 2-year-old Sweety, who was treated for pneumonia. Credit: David Greedy

"Pneumonia is the world's number one killer of children. But with new vaccines, early diagnosis and proper treatment with antibiotics that cost less than a dollar, a child's health can improve and lives can be saved," said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children.

"I work on a TV show that features the unusual, the bizarre, the unique. But the cases on House are brightly-colored minnows compared to the leviathan of pneumonia," said actor and Save the Children Artist Ambassador Hugh Laurie. "It's so big, you couldn't make a TV show about it. But you could change it. So could I. We can and must change it."

Pneumonia kills more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined. UNICEF and the World Health Organization estimate that pneumonia accounts for nearly 1 out of 5 deaths in children under 5 years old. For each child who dies from pneumonia in an industrialized country, more than 2,000 children die from pneumonia in developing countries.

"We have what it takes to prevent and cure childhood pneumonia. Yet the disease tragically claims more than two million babies and toddlers every year," said actress and Save the Children Artist Ambassador Gwyneth Paltrow. "We can stand on the sides and continue to watch this tragedy unfold or we can step in and change the ending. World Pneumonia Day gives everyone the chance to act."

"In wealthier countries, we don't often see life-threatening child pneumonia. It's easy to forget that around the world, pneumonia is still killing more than 5,500 kids every day," said Dr. Orin Levine, a pneumonia expert and associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Pneumonia is both common and extremely serious, but with existing tools like vaccines and antibiotics, we can save more than a million children every year."

In addition to killing more than two million children a year, pneumonia causes severe financial difficulties and emotional burden for families and communities and contributes to the cycle of poverty. Few caregivers can recognize pneumonia symptoms. Consequently, less than one-third of children suffering from pneumonia receive antibiotics, which are available for less than US$1.

Actor and Save the Children Ambassador Hugh Laurie says, "We can and must change it."

Join the Fight

Save the Children, PneumoADIP at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pneumonia, and the GAVI Alliance have joined with Save the Children Artist Ambassadors Gwyneth Paltrow and Hugh Laurie to increase awareness about and investments in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. 

• Log on to http://www.WorldPneumoniaDay.org to sign up to receive email updates about World Pneumonia Day.
• Learn more about preventing pneumonia and how we can fight back.
• Join the movement on the World Pneumonia Day Facebook page.

"We have been fooled too long ignoring this disease. Children dying of pneumonia may be living in poor countries but these are not lesser lives. We must do all we can to take care of all children," said Lance Laifer, founder of Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pneumonia. "Our complacency ends today. We won't let millions of children gasping their last breath go unnoticed by the world."

Partner Organizations

Save the Children is the leading, independent organization creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. For more than 75 years, Save the Children has been helping children survive and thrive by improving their health, education and economic opportunities and, in times of acute crisis, mobilizing lifesaving assistance to help children recover from the effects of war, conflict and natural disasters.

PneumoADIP is a dedicated team of experts and specialists based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health supported by a $30 million grant from the GAVI Alliance (GAVI). PneumoADIP's mission is to improve child survival and health by accelerating the evaluation of and access to, new life-saving pneumococcal vaccines for the world's children.

About Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pneumonia (formerly Hedge Funds vs. Malaria):  Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pneumonia's mission is to create grassroots support to end easily preventable and treatable deaths due to malaria, pneumonia and other diseases and to help improve the lives of those saved through education and economic development. Hedge Funds vs. Malaria & Pneumonia is a 100 percent volunteer organization, is not a 501c3 and has no expenses. All the funds it helps collect are used to help other organizations.

The GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) saves children's lives and protects people's health by increasing access to immunization in poor countries.  Since 2000 GAVI has vaccinated more than 213 million children and committed $4 billion to the 72 poorest countries, home to half the world's people.