BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.N. said on Monday it needs 39 billion U.S. dollars over the next six years to fight pneumonia, the world's top killer of children.

    On the first World Pneumonia Day, the World Health Organization(WHO) and UNICEF are releasing a global plan aiming to save more than 5 million children from dying of pneumonia by 2015.

    Pneumonia, a severe inflammation of the lungs usually caused by a bacterial infection, is responsible for one in four child deaths, more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined. The disease kills approximately 1.8 million children below five years of age every year, making it the world's leading child killer.

    "This is very simply the biggest killer people never hear about," said Orin Levine, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, who has advised WHO and UNICEF.

    WHO and UNICEF made a joint appeal to fund a six-year plan for pneumonia prevention and treatment in 68 developing countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, plus parts of Central and South America, where it is prevalent.

    "We know the strategy will work, and if it is applied in every high-burden country, we will be able to prevent millions of deaths," Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, said.

    Children in rich nations are routinely immunised against diseases that cause pneumonia, but in much of the developing world vaccine coverage is patchy.     

    Since 2000, a vaccine to protect children from pneumonia has existed, but is only available in rich countries. "Children in poor countries have the same right to health, the same right to be immunized as children in rich nations," said Julian Lob-Levyt of GAVI, a global alliance of U.N. agencies and private partners.

    With renewed attention and resources on pneumonia, health officials hope to slash the number of deaths in half in the next few years. "Until now, pneumonia has been off the radar," Levine said. "But this is a big problem that can be solved."

    (Agencies)