Pneumonia now 4th leading cause of death in Philippines – PHAP

Pneumonia, a preventable disease, has become the country's fourth leading cause of death, killing 46,000 Filipinos as of July 31, the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) reported on Thursday, Oct. 23.

- By JEL SANTOS

According to the association, pneumonia has claimed 46,718 lives, accounting for 6.7 percent of all deaths nationwide as of July this year.

"For years, sustained immunization efforts helped keep pneumonia lower on the list of top causes of death, ranking only seventh until 2021. But by 2024, pneumonia had risen to fourth place and, in the same year, the benefit packages for moderate to severe pneumonia topped claims from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth)," it noted.