Effectiveness of Control Programs for Pneumonia Among Children in China and Fiji

Abstract

This article summarizes the implementation and efficacy of the World Health Organization's standard case management program for pediatric pneumonia in three counties in China and in the Western Division of Fiji. The information provided through this program was simple enough to be understood by parents and health care workers with a basic educational background.The program reduced mortality from pneumoniaevenwhen implementedthrough the existinghealth care system in a relatively poor county in China. The factors important in the success of the program included improvedrecognitionofthe signsof childhoodpneumoniabyparents, earlier presentationofchildren with these signs to health care facilities, availability of antimicrobial agents at the primary health care level,and rational decisions by health care workers about the use of these agents.