Acute Respiratory Infections in Children

Abstract

It is not generally realized that acute respiratory infections are, together with diarrheal diseases, the most important causes of preventable deaths in the world. The World Health Organization, other health agencies, and governments have recognized the problem of diarrheal disease and have developed strategies to combat it. Such programs are barely beginning for acute respiratory infections. Although accurate prevalence and incidence figures do not exist on a global basis, the data that are available suggest that these infections in children represent a problem of enormous magnitude.Data from the World Health Organization from 88 countries on five continents representing one . . .