Dubai hosts health congress
By IANSThursday, March 25, 2010
DUBAI - More than 200 experts have attended the first Africa and Middle East Pneumococcal Congress held here in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), WAM news agency reported.
Mahmoud Fikri, executive director of health policies in the UAE health ministry, inaugurated the conference Wednesday.
The conference discussed incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease, role of vaccination programmes and protection of children from pneumonia and meningitis through new vaccines.
Five percent of deaths in children less than five years of age are caused by pneumonia in the UAE.
According to WHO, 1.6 million children die each year globally due to the disease. Approximately half of these deaths occur in children younger than five years of age in the developing world.
Pneumococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae that colonises the upper respiratory tract.
