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Abstract Background Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Objective The aim of study was to evaluate the efficacy of Zinc supplementation in treatment of severe pneumonia in hospitalized children. Design/Methods A double blind randomized, placebo- controlled clinical trial conducted at a tertiary care centre of a teaching hospital. Children with diagnosis of severe pneumonia were randomly assigned to receive supplementation with either elemental zinc or placebo by mouth at the time of enrollment. From day 2, they received 10 mg of their assigned treatment by mouth twice a day for 7 days along with standard antimicrobial therapy. Results The baseline characteristics like age, sex, weight, weight Z score, height, height Z score, weight for height Z score and hemoglobin were comparable in both study groups. The respiratory rate, chest indrawing, cyanosis, stridor, nasal flaring, wheeze and fever in both groups recorded at enrollment and parameters did not differ significantly between the two groups. The outcome measures like time taken for resolution of severe pneumonia, pneumonia, duration of hospital stay, nil per oral, intravenous fluid, oxygen use, treatment requiring 2nd line of drug and 3rd line drug were evaluated and found to be same. Conclusion The present study did not show a statistically significant reduction in duration of severe pneumonia, or reduction in hospital stay for children given daily zinc supplementation along with standard antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, zinc supplementation given during the acute episode does not help in short term clinical recovery from severe pneumonia.

Neonatal mortality in developing countries is one of the most important problems that need immediate attention in order to achieve Millennium Development Goals. About 4 million newborns die in the world every year, 90% of them in the developing world. Most of these deaths are preventable by simple interventions in the community. However, in most of the target countries, the implementation of essential newborn care has been very poor. The home based or community care packages include maternal care, essential newborn care, improving the behavior change communication of the community, resuscitation of newborn babies at the time of home delivery, and management of sick newborns with antibiotics at home. Studies have reported one-third to two-third reduction of mortality among newborns after home based care interventions. However, when translated into scaling up of home based newborn care in the worst affected districts of the country, the results are not very rewarding. Identification of limiting factors and effective up scaling of the home-based packages will prove to be of enormous benefit in reducing neonatal mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]