Prevalence and Mortality Rate of Pneumonia Infection on Under-Five Children with a Special Reference to Adamawa State, Nigeria

Pneumonia is the most common infectious cause of death in children accounting for more than 16% of all deaths of under-fives worldwide and it is most prevalent in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2021). The leading risk factors that contribute to pneumonia incidence are lack of exclusive breastfeeding, under-nutrition, indoor air pollution, low birth weight, overcrowding, lack of immunization and comorbid conditions (Kiconco, et al. 2021). Pneumonia claimed the lives of more than 800,000 children under the age of five in 2018 globally, with one child every 39 seconds. Nigerian children made up the highest number of those who died, with an estimated 162,000 deaths in 2018 (Geoffrey, 2019). This study used Ex Post facto design with retrospective data between 2008 and 2022 obtained from Primary Health Care Development Agency in Adamawa State. The study revealed that the prevalence rates for pneumonia disease fluctuated between 2008 and 2015. However, there was a drastically and huge decreased in the prevalence rate from 6,110 to 517 cases per 100,000 childbirths in 2015 to 2016. It then sharply increased from 517 to 6,393 cases per 100,000 childbirths in 2016 to 2017. Within the timeframe, the study also revealed that pneumonia infection registered the lowest and highest child mortality in 2013 and 2022 with 1 and 17 deaths per 100,000 childbirths respectively. The results from this research will serve as a spring board for policy formulation and implementation of Government/NGOs/Community Health Programmes in Adamawa State Nigeria.