Home Care for Severe Childhood Pneumonia in the Developing World

Although the WHO recommends that children with severe pneumonia be referred to the hospital for treatment with parenteral antibiotics, treatment is often delayed because of distance to the hospital, transportation issues, concerns about cost, and lack of childcare for siblings. In the present study, researchers evaluated whether children with severe pneumonia in Pakistan (age range, 2–59 months) could be successfully managed at home by trained community health workers, without initial referral to a healthcare facility.

Twenty-eight clusters of rural villages, each with an average of 20 lay health workers available to make initial assessments and diagnoses, were randomized to one of two groups. In the intervention group, children were treated…