Radio Miraya
2848: Miraya Breakfast Show - World Pneumonia Day!
So yes, a very good morning, it's just a quarter past eight a.m. This is where the nation's biggest conversations begin every morning. My name is Irene LaSou, taking you all the way until nine a.m. And welcome to the last hour of the Miraya breakfast show. Welcome back from the new summary there in English and in Arabic. And we continue with the nation's big conversations now on world pneumonia day. We highlight a critical health issue in South Sudan. Well, pneumonia apparently is a leading cause of childhood mortality worsened by limited access to vaccines. This day calls for urgent action to address pneumonia, but pneumonia's burden and the need to prevent it to for the preventative measures, including adding pneumonia vaccine to the national immunization schedule. I'm now glad to be joined by experts to shed some light on this crucial topic. I have a heng, Luai Bai and Coiti Emily, and who are both medical personnel. Welcome to the program and good morning. Good morning, thank you for having us. Right. And I would like to start with a heng. Just explained to us the current burden of pneumonia in South Sudan and how it impacts children specifically. Yes, good morning. My name, Dr. Heng Luai Bai, a member of between. And also, I'm a medical doctor working in Alsaba Children's Hospital. So pneumonia is the most dangerous and the most common disease that is affecting children, especially in those who are less than five years. So under five years, the most risk people and then breastfeeding children is the inflammation of the lungs that can affect both lungs or one of them. And it's dangerous if not treated. Yeah. Right. So what causes that inflammation in the lungs? Inflammation of the lungs can be causes by different microorganisms, bacteria can cause it. And then also we have viral pneumonia. OK. And then fungi also can cause it. All right. So I think for the benefit of all our listeners, Annabigolin, who maybe will speak in Arabic and then Kuwait, he will speak in English. So kind of like that, it carried out all the lungs as well. OK. And kangi wanu su an ayan al-gisabubi ilti habata reate. I ilti habata reate. And the monkey bizabubu ilti habata rea waheit, wa lakulum al-iten. Fa ayan de indo hai yat ke tir bizabi boh. Waheid man hai yat al bizabi boh, indo indana bacteria. Aloha be laarabizim togirasi. Waheid man hai waheid man hai rosad. Waheid man hai fittriat al lahofangai. Monkey bizabi boh. Al ayan de bizabi ilti habata rea lai al al-omur toman agalam al-hamsaysana. Waheid al al-kaman al-giradah yan al-yal al-sukari, less than six years, al-oman-giradah. Bizabi al-oman ayan. Wayan de loma al-idu bizabi boh, mache al-kater, leyana. Yes. Right. Thank you so much, Dr. Atiang. Emily, so she spoke about the main causes of pneumonia in South Sudan. But how do we tell that our child has been exposed? Yes. So first of all, thank you for having us here. Today is World pneumonia day, the 12th of November, 2024. It's a day that we intensify talking about the burden of pneumonia. And especially that it actually accounts for many of the deaths of children under five, and South Sudan is not an exception. And some of the causes of pneumonia are actually vaccine-preventable. Of course, not all of them. And so when a child has pneumonia or an adult, now it also depends because there could be there are people who we call immunocompromised. The immunity is low because they probably have something else going on. Another condition, a heavy condition going on in their body. In late times, I would say heavy condition going on in their body. So, yes, it could be more severe, but for children, they would get a fever. Their body would be hot, and then they would have cough, difficulty in breathing. But also, we realized that diseases also could present differently in children. So when you see a fever, you see a cough, you see a child who is having what we call rigors. He or she will translate in Arabic, what that means. Then it's important that you rush to the hospital. And then when they are struggling to breathe, their breathing is so fast, it's unusually faster than they should be breathing. And they're struggling to breathe. That it's important that they rush to the nearest health facility. Right. Thank you. Yes. What are the signs to look out for in Arabic? So, Anna, go on to the bottom. Yeah, sure. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Okay, yes, Katie, Emily, we hear a doctor rather. We hear that this usually happens when children are exposed to a cold, is that true, when they're exposed to coldness? Because, well, this is what people are saying there. Is that true that maybe if you put on the fun or if you expose children to the AC for a very long time, and because they're young, they're chances of catching pneumonia high, is that true? - Not necessarily, so what happens is that there are microorganisms that a doctor will talk about. Alia, it is a that's bacteria, or it's a virus, or it is a fungus, and in medical terms, those are very complicated names for the microorganisms, which we can't go into mentioning. They have to be in the air, in the droplets that this child could inhale. So there would be pneumonia that is acquired from the community, where the child is leaving, or the adult is leaving because adults also get pneumonia, or it could be acquired in the hospital, by the way. - Really? - Yes, you can acquire pneumonia in the hospital, because that's where also there are sick people, and depending on the infection, prevention, prevention, control mechanisms that are existent, it's easy to, it's one of the diseases we say, it's hospital acquired, and a hospital acquired infection. So pneumonia is one of them. Then there is also pneumonia in immunocompromised people, because for them, when their immunity is so low, they can't pick just even a small, when a microorganism is existing in its small, less quantities, it's easy that their body would not be able to fight or be prepared to someone whose immunity is okay. - Right. - So it's not really coldness, for a child, for their coldness, it could be that it's allergy. Yes, of course, cold weather could make certain strains, or that cause certain microorganisms, that cause pneumonia, to be readily available in the air, one breathes, but there has to be an infection, somebody else has to be infected, they are coughing around, they are releasing these microorganisms in the air, especially for bacteria. Then this child will inhale them, that's how you see that. Children who go to school, you treat a cough, they're constantly coming back with these coughs, because they are in that setting, and of course, in schools, until we get to a conversation on how to prevent infections among the children who are school going, we will still keep on getting many children coming back with coughs. - Right. Thank you so much, Doctor, and Doctor Etienne, why is vaccination such a critical component in the fight against pneumonia, particularly for children? (speaking in foreign language) - Mm-hmm. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Okay. So do we have that time for you to listen to? - Actually, it's not there in South Sudan, but maybe in the future, we will have it there. - Okay. So what would be the substitute bigger candidate Mafih? (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Mm-hmm. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Right. (speaking in foreign language) - Question to you, why is vaccination important in this? - Yes, so like I said earlier, we've both actually said that there are many causes of pneumonia, we've broken them down into bacteria, viral and fungal. There are some causes of pneumonia that can be prevented by vaccine indeed. And it's precisely also why we chose to come here today. Especially what is called streptococcus, pneumonia, it's a form of bacteria, and it's one that is accounts for most of the pneumonia that we have, apart from other strains. So it's important for us to have vaccination because as we speak, in the year 2019 alone, pneumonia deaths and in under five are counted for 19% of the deaths of children in this country in South Sudan. That is, that comes second to malaria. Good thing that now we have a malaria vaccine that has been rolled out sub-nationally, and we are seeing how that will go. But pneumonia still doesn't have a vaccine on the childhood immunization vaccine schedule in the country, yet there are vaccines. There is what is called a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, and it would be able to prevent pneumonia against a number of strains of, for example, this report to streptococcus do not have. That's what we do not have. However, the good news is that so far, there is on the health policy agenda, our Ministry of Health has intentions to have this vaccine introduced in 2025. That is the plan. We hope that they can stay on the course with the plans to do that. And so that would actually reduce a lot of under five mortality in South Sudan. Right, ladies, thank you so much for making our time to speak to us. And earlier, you, when Dr. Thien was introducing herself, she spoke about an association. You do belong to that association. So I want to give you two minutes and at least to tell us what you do in that association. Okay, so we are both members of South Sudanese Women in Medicine. I am the Executive Director of South Sudanese Women in Medicine and Dr. Thien serves on our Executive Council. One of the governing organs of the organizations. We are a non-profit that convenes women, South Sudanese women both inside and outside the country who are medical doctors, pharmacies and dentists. However, we do enlist membership of non-medics who believe in our vision and mission and which is to really quality the urgency of these women towards influencing the healthcare landscape in South Sudan. And that's precisely why we are here to a SATA voice in this whole conversation of reducing the burden of pneumonia. Today, when the theme is every breath counts, stop pneumonia in its truck. All right, thank you so much. And lastly, Dr. Thien, what is your final remark on this pneumonia day? (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Yes, Dr. Thien and Dr. Emily, thank you so much for your time. - Okay, thank you. Emily, you want to add something? - Yes, my final word to those who are out there, to care givers to especially children under five, it's important that, so for now we have a number of vaccines that are being given to children, and it's good that children are taken to be immunized routinely as advised by the healthcare practitioners that they meet in the health facilities, especially children under five years. It is important, and we are hoping we would like to encourage that the public, whenever the government manages to introduce the PCV vaccine, which they intend to do so with another vaccine concurrently called the Rotavirus vaccine, it will be very good that they embrace that and still take their children to receive that vaccine because that is what would really help us bring down the figures of under five mortality in this country, alongside the introduction of the malaria vaccine, which is currently being given out in some parts of the country. - All right, ladies, because of time, every breath counts. - Indeed, every breath counts. Thank you so much for making our time to speak to us this morning, and I hope as you are sitting there listening to us this morning, you took all the pointers that the doctors just mentioned about our children.