Pneumonia is an acute inflammation of the parenchyma of the lower respiratory tract caused by a pathogen.
Worldwide, pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children <5 years of age.
About 2 million children are dying each year from pneumonia
Two-thirds of these deaths happen during infancy most of them are in developing countries
In developed countries
Pneumonia occurs in 10-15 / 1000 children per year
Hospital admission rates are 1-4/1000 children per year, most of them are infants and young children

The physician faced with a child with a chronic and relatively non-specific symptom.
 While we are assessing the etiology of cough first needs to decide into which of five categories to place the child:
1. Normal child (the diagnosis which requires the most skill and experience).
2. A child with a serious illness such as cystic fibrosis,
tuberculosis etc. (rare, but essential to get right).
3. A child with non-serious, but treatable causes of cough and wheeze, for example gastrooesophageal
reflux or postnasal drip.

Students spend 12 weeks in the department.  This constitutes their entire pediatric training.  Due to the cycle system, every batch may do pediatrics straight after finishing Level 9 or after rotating through other cycles e.g., medicine, surgery, etc.  Students, however, have been given courses in medicine and surgery during or before Level 9 and, therefore, they should have the background in clinical practice.  During these 12 weeks, it is impossible to cover all topics in details.  Emphasis is put on graduating general physicians who have enough basic knowledge in pediatrics.