Pneumonia claims the lives of 3,70,000 children aged under five in India, according to a survey by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC), on behalf of the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia thus putting the country's pneumonia-related deaths figure at the top across the world.

The report also said that 1.6 million children under five die every year worldwide due to pneumonia.

The countries where most of the children die to pneumonia - Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda - are responsible for nearly three-quarters of all pneumonia deaths.

The survey highlighted the need for urgent efforts in India to ‘reach target levels of coverage for the life-saving interventions that can prevent, protect against and treat pneumonia in children.’

Read the report