Pneumonia rates improve in Aboriginal children
New research from The Kids for Child Health Research shows that the pneumococcal vaccine program has contributed to closing of the gap in serious infections in Aboriginal children.
The results, published in the latest online first edition of the international Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, show that hospitalisations for pneumonia across Western Australia have declined in Aboriginal children while rates for non-Aboriginal children have remained the same.
Report author Hannah Moore said the disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children has declined by a third.
"The gap in hospitalisations for Aboriginal kids was 15 times higher in the mid-1990's, whereas in the mid-2000's it was around 10 times higher," said Ms Moore.
"While there has been a decline in the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal kids, pneumonia still affects far too many Aboriginal children."
Pneumonia is a serious illness and a common reason for children to be admitted to hospital. Around one-fifth of childhood deaths globally - approximately 2 million per year - are due to pneumonia.
Ms Moore said the unique Australian pneumococcal vaccine program is likely to have had a contributing effect on the decline but changes in socioeconomic factors such as education, income, treatment of water supplies and household crowding have also had an impact.
"The vaccine program has certainly played its part as the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has been offered free-of-charge to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under two years of age since 2001," said Ms Moore.
Ms Moore called for continued monitoring of pneumonia trends in high-risk populations to fully understand the impact of pneumococcal vaccination and other public health interventions.
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