Global health and research
Global health is and will remain one of our priorities because we are convinced that improving health in developing countries is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty and break the vicious circle of poverty and illness.
Consequently, as part of the international strategy of ”la Caixa” Foundation, international strategic alliances in global health are being strengthened, focusing on two of the main causes of child mortality: pneumonia and malaria.
Pneumonia is still the world's leading infectious cause of death among adults and children
The COVID-19 pandemic could add 1.9 million to the number of deaths from pneumonia in 2021, which would mean an increase in the loss of life due to pneumonia and its derivatives by 75%, as they are both respiratory diseases that are not can be treated in isolation. Lack of investment in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia has left most countries with poor health systems to effectively diagnose and treat respiratory infections, as is now happening with COVID-19.
Unfortunately, this pandemic has served to alert people to the dangers of respiratory infections such as pneumonia and to the need to be able to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat these conditions through vaccines, especially among vulnerable populations. Many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America that are battling COVID-19 and childhood pneumonia clearly need and will clearly need joint strategies to effectively combat both.
