India, Nov. 12 -- Today is World Pneumonia Day, throwing light on a respiratory condition that's threatening to get more acute in a world with the increasing pollution, among other things.

In medical terms, pneumonia is a form of respiratory ailment, an infection caused in the air sacs of the lungs due to various reasons. The World Health Organization blames pneumonia as the number one cause of infectious deaths in children worldwide.

According to reports, just in 2019 alone, pneumonia claimed the lives of 2.5 million, including 672,000 children. That was before the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic kicked in, which further worsened the global respiratory health situation as we all know. As a result, the estimated number of deaths from r...