**7. Prevalence of respiratory problems in Nigeria**

Acute respiratory infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality among Nigerian children. It was estimated that pneumonia accounted for 20% of deaths in children under the age of 5 years in Nigeria between the year 2000 and 2003 (WHO, 2007).

A prospective cohort study in Ilorin, Nigeria, reported that the rate of acute respiratory infection was three episodes per child per year with pneumonia being responsible for 1.3 episodes per child per year [27]. In another hospital-based study in Ibadan, 28.4% of children admitted to the hospital with acute lower respiratory tract infection had acute bronchiolitis with respiratory syncytial virus being the most common viral aetiologic agent [39].

There is scanty data on the bacterial aetiology of pneumonia in Nigerian children.According to WHO, (2002), about 20% of all deaths in children under 5 years are due to Acute Lower Respiratory Infections (ALRIs - pneumonia, bronchiolitis and bronchitis); 90% of these deaths are due to pneumonia. There is a seasonal variation in acute respiratory infections in Nigerian children with more episodes occurring during the rainy season [5, 27, 39].
