01-06-06,14:00pm

BISHKEK, 5 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Health officials have said that the number of acute respiratory infections in the former Soviet republic of 5.1 million is unacceptably high and shows no sign of decreasing, especially among infants and young children.

Doctors in the capital, Bishkek, say they have witnessed more children contracting the infections in recent months.

“The number of children with acute respiratory infections has increased in comparison with last year. We have opened an additional four departments in our hospital to cope and all 160 beds are occupied, each day we have about 30-40 children appearing with respiratory illnesses, we cannot cope,” Nurisa Muratova, head of the Republican Infectious Diseases Hospital in Bishkek, said. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that globally, low birth weight, malnourished and non-breastfed children, and those living in overcrowded conditions are at a higher risk of contracting and dying from pneumonia.

According to Kyrgyz government statistics, there were more than 24,000 babies and young children suffering from respiratory diseases in 2004. Of these, over 3,000 had pneumonia. The actual number of sufferers is much higher because the lack of medical services in rural areas means many children are not recorded as being sick.

Official statistics show that the disease is high in Bishkek and other big cities, but observers say this is because urban Kyrgyz have better access to medical services where such cases are registered and treated.

“In order to get to the central district hospital, we have to go about 30 km and during the winter the road is completely blocked - we cannot go there,” Azamat, father of two, said in Kochi village, in the eastern Isuk-Kul province.

Lack of basic health education prevents parents from spotting the signs and symptoms and is therefore keeping the rate of respiratory infections high. “We did not know that our baby was sick, but two days ago she became very ill, and then we went to the doctor, she told us that it is pneumonia,” a young couple said at the Republican Infectious Diseases Hospital.

According to the WHO, about 20 percent of all global deaths in children under five years is due to pneumonia and bronchitis. The world health body advocates the early recognition and prompt treatment of pneumonia as a way of reducing this percentage.