Decreased number of hospitalized children with severe acute lower respiratory infection after introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Introduction: acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) are a leading killer of children under five worldwide including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). We aimed to determine the morbidity and case fatality rate due to ALRI before and after introduction of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PVC13) in DR Congo 2013.

Methods: data were collected from medical records of children with a diagnosis of ALRI, aged from 2 to 59 months, treated at four hospitals in the Eastern DR Congo.