Pneumonia and other Acute Respiratory Infections

Pneumonia remains in the list of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the
Philippines. It ranked third among the causes of morbidity and fourth among the causes
of death in 2000.

There was an increase in the morbidity trend

Figure 4.4 Trends in Pneumonia Morbidity and Mortality
Philippines, 1980-2000 for pneumonia from 1990 to 1996. This may
1200
be due to improved case finding and reporting
Rate per 100,000 population

1000
with the intensification of the program to
800
control acute respiratory infections during
600
this period. The morbidity trend decreased
400 Morbidity
slightly from 1997 to 2000 but the number of
Mortality
200
cases remained high at 829 cases per 100,000
0
population in 2000. On the other hand, there is
1989

1999
1983

1993
1984

1994
1988

1998
1980

1990

2000
1982

1985

1992
1986

1995
1996
1981

1991
1987

1997

a decreasing trend of mortality from

Year
Source: Philippine Health Statistics, 2000 pneumonia in the general population from
1990 to 2000 despite the high number of cases
Figure 4.5 Pneumonia Mortality Rate by Region per year. The mortality rate from pneumonia
Philippines, 2000
decreased from 64.7 deaths per 100,000
NCR
CAR population in 1990 to 42.7 deaths per 100,000
Ilocos
Cagayan Valley
in 2000 (PHS). This reflects improvement in
Central Luzon the diagnosis and treatment of cases.
Southern Tagalog
Bicol The region with the highest reported
Region

Western Visayas
Central Visayas mortality rate from pneumonia is Western
Eastern Visayas
Western Mindanao
Visayas (74.6 deaths per 100,000 population)
Northern Mindanao followed closely by Ilocos (73.7 per 100,000)
Southern Mindanao
Central Mindanao
and Cagayan Valley (59.2 per 100,000) with
Caraga ARMM having the lowest reported death
ARMM
PHILIPPINES from pneumonia at 2.5 deaths per 100,000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 followed by Central Mindanao (15.6 per
Rate per 100,000 population 100,000) and Western Mindanao (21.3 per
Source: Philippine Health Statistics, 2000 100,000) (PHS 2000).

Death rate from pneumonia among children under-five years of age followed a
downward trend since the 1980s. The death rate from pneumonia decreased by around
83.6 percent during a twenty-year period, from 401.93 per 100,000 under five years old

138 Chapter 4 Reducing the Burden of Disease