A World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that India has 44 million pneumonia cases making it the pneumonia capital of the world. Pneumonia kills more people than other popular diseases and infections including AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

In this report "Pneumonia - the forgotten killer of children," WHO and UNICEF say that 14.3 per cent of deaths during infancy and 15.9 per cent of deaths among children between the ages 1-5 in India are due to pneumonia. This respiratory infection is mostly present in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa despite well-known methods to prevent and cure infection.

The report also indicts China to have 18 million cases and Nigeria and Pakistan with seven million each.