SAANS (Social Awareness and Action to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully) Campaign

The SAANS (Social Awareness and Action to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully) campaign is an initiative to reduce morbidity and mortality of childhood pneumonia. The campaign was launched in 2019 to combat childhood pneumonia, a leading cause of death among children under five years of age. The campaign implemented during 12th November – 28th/ 29th February of every financial year.

Objectives of the SAANS Campaign:

• Increase Awareness: The campaign aims to raise awareness about pneumonia symptoms, prevention, and treatment among parents, caregivers, and communities.
• Promote Timely Intervention: It emphasizes early identification of pneumonia symptoms, including rapid breathing, chest indrawing and fever and encourages caregivers to seek immediate medical attention for appropriate care.
• Strengthen Pneumonia Prevention: The campaign advocates for pneumococcal vaccination as a preventive measure to protect children from pneumonia-causing infections.
• Enhance Community Engagement: It involves frontline workers like ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) and Anganwadi workers in spreading key messages related to pneumonia prevention, proper nutrition (including breastfeeding), handwashing, and sanitation.
• Improve Health System Response: The campaign also supports training healthcare workers to manage and treat pneumonia effectively in public health facilities, particularly in rural and underserved areas.