Treatment of Children with ISPA Decreased in 2022

UNICEF data shows a decrease in the treatment of children with symptoms of acute respiratory infection (ARI) between 2010 and 2022.

Globally, 61% of children with ARI symptoms received treatment in 2010. This figure decreased to 59% in 2022.

Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest percentage of treatment, at 68% in 2010 and 70% in 2022. Despite a 2 percentage point increase, this shows that not all children with ARI in the region received treatment.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia also had high percentages of ARI treatment among children, at 68% in both 2010 and 2022.

Among the regions surveyed, East and Southern Africa showed significant progress, increasing from 51% in 2010 to 55% in 2022, a 4 percentage point rise.

A significant decrease occurred in South Asia, falling from 67% in 2010 to 61% in 2022, a 6 percentage point drop.

Most mild ARI cases involve coughs and colds. However, untreated and persistent ARI can lead to pneumonia. UNICEF notes that few children with pneumonia symptoms receive treatment from healthcare facilities.

UNICEF also explains that childhood pneumonia deaths are strongly linked to poverty-related factors such as malnutrition, lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and inadequate access to healthcare services.

"About half of childhood pneumonia deaths are linked to air pollution," UNICEF states on its official website.

UNICEF continues that indoor air pollution kills more children globally than outdoor air pollution. Simultaneously, approximately two billion children aged 0-17 live in areas with outdoor air pollution exceeding international guideline limits.

These statistics are from UNICEF's 2023 global data, based on Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), and other nationally representative household surveys.