Journal
Reducing childhood respiratory morbidity and mortality in low and middle income countries: a current challenge.
Pneumonia is a major cause of death of children in low and middle income countries (LMICs). In this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, Nguyen et al. [1] examine pneumonia care in a large secondary care hospital in Vietnam and compare it to World Health Organization (WHO) case management guidelines. This carefully conducted prospective study highlights the weaknesses of the WHO approach, which leads to overdiagnosis of pneumonia with unnecessary hospitalisations and antibiotic use, and underdiagnosis of obstructive airway diseases.