Pneumonia is one of the most preventable and treatable illnesses in global health, yet every minute two children die from this illness, primarily because they are denied the benefits of prevention, accurate diagnosis and treatment.

World Pneumonia Day on 12 November brings people from all over the world together, uniting to demand that something be done to fight pneumonia.

Today on World Lung Day, people affected by and working against respiratory disease, come together for lung health action.

Too often we take breathing for granted. World Lung Day, on 25th September, is an opportunity for us all to unite and advocate for better lung health globally. Organisations and individuals from around the world have joined the campaign, to shine a spotlight on the alarming statistics, and to hold their own lung health events.

The UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Tuberculosis will take place today at the United Nations in New York. This will be the UN General Assembly’s first-ever meeting to accelerate efforts against this disease.

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) calls on all countries to commit to ending TB at this historic meeting, which includes commitments to significantly increase funding for TB detection, treatment and prevention program and accelerating research and development into new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools.

Two historic health meetings take place later this week in New York: 26 September, the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis and 27 September, the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases.

More than 50 heads of state will attend and speak at the meetings destined to scale up the response to these important health problems.