Health experts called for action today on the world’s biggest killer of infants – pneumonia.
Breast-feeding, vaccination against a range of organisms and improved drinking water and sanitation are among measures needed to help protect children, according to the World Health Organisation.
The chest infection kills more than a million children under the age of five every year, according to campaigners.
Today is World Pneumonia Day and two island countries were marking it by introducing a pneumococcal vaccine – Mauritius and Papua New Guinea.
Campaigners are also pressing for improved treatment globally, with antibiotics and oxygen available.
And in a fifth measure, they want to deal with cooking stoves that cause indoor pollution.
United Nations general secretary Ban Ki-moon backed the campaign.
He said: "On World Pneumonia Day, I call on governments and their partners to commit to promoting breastfeeding and providing clean water, a healthy environment, and all the medicine and vaccinations children need.
"By working to protect children from pneumonia, we can shield them from other deadly diseases and help them to survive and thrive."
Dr Mickey Chopra, of Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, said: “Every 30 seconds, a child younger than five dies of pneumonia. This is a great shame as we know what it takes to prevent children from dying of this illness.
“Tackling pneumonia doesn’t necessarily need complicated solutions.”
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