New Game Targets Pneumonia Awareness

Save the Children, a global humanitarian organization based in Westport, has launched an online quiz game to create awareness about childhood pneumonia. 

Pneumonia, a preventable and easily treatable illness, claims the lives of more children under 5 each year than measles, malaria and AIDS combined, according to the organization.     

“Childhood pneumonia is the disease that no one is talking about.  In the United States we have vaccines to prevent the illness and antibiotics to treat it. When a child gets ill with pneumonia, he usually recovers,” Mary Beth Powers, chief of Save the Children’s Survive to 5 campaign, said in a news release.  “But in poor countries, pneumonia is a major killer of young children, especially children living in remote areas, where health care is not available or is located far from a child’s home.   

“Although childhood pneumonia is a serious issue, we wanted to create a fun and interactive way ... for people of all ages to get involved and make a difference,“ Powers added. 

Players of the game, Mission: Pneumonia, are invited to take a seven-level quiz to test their knowledge.  As they advance, they are encouraged to take simple actions, such as sharing what they learn with friends and family through Twitter and Facebook or signing a petition to Congress in support of legislation to expand life-saving health measures to mothers and children in poor countries. 

At the end of each quiz level, players are introduced to community health workers around the world who have been trained through Save the Children programs to diagnose and treat child pneumonia in their community, and to the children they’ve helped. Many of these community health worker programs are funded through U.S. government investments in global health programs. 

“We want to recognize and celebrate these local heroes,” Powers said. “Thanks to the skills and swift actions of thousands of community health workers around the globe, many more babies and toddlers are alive today.” 

Global health organizations from around the world are joining forces to urge governments to take steps to fight pneumonia. The Global Coalition against Childhood Pneumonia, a group of nearly 100 influential global health organizations, including Save the Children and academic institutions, held a World Pneumonia Day symposium in New York City last week. 

Save the Children has health programs to treat pneumonia in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Southern Sudan and Zambia.  The organization also supports pneumonia prevention programs in many more countries.