Childhood very severe pneumonia and meningitis-related hospitalization and death in Yemen, before and after introduction of H. influenzae type b

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine was included in the Yemen immunization programme in 2005. This study compared the rates of very severe pneumonia and all-cause meningitis hospitalization and death, before and after introduction of conjugate Hib vaccine, and reports the results of the 2010 bacterial meningitis surveillance. A retrospective analysis was made of data collected for 2000-2010 for all children aged 2-60 months in the main children's hospital in Sana'a. Compared with the pre-Hib vaccination period, the post-Hib period showed significant and impressive reductions in the rates of hospitalization and death for all-cause meningitis. However, hospitalization and death for very severe pneumonia improved only modestly, and there was evidence of a decreasing but non-significant trend indicting that very severe pneumonia was a non-specific endpoint with multi- etiologies (both viral and bacterial). Very severe pneumonia remains the leading cause of severe morbidity and death for young children, particularly those aged < 12 months.