University of California researcher Kirk Smith may have saved the lives of Angela Jiménez’s four-month-old twins. Smith was on-site in rural Guatemala with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves as part of his ground-breaking research study on the health benefits of reducing human exposures to smoke from cookstoves, when he encountered the Jiménez family and their sick young girl. “She was tightly bundled in blankets, with a blue-and-white knit cap on. Her face was covered in dried phlegm and she was crying hard, with a steady, wheezing cough.”

On November 12, the world will mark the 3rd World Pneumonia Day. On that day, I will be thinking about all the faces of pneumonia I know and about Precious, a cute 1-year old I met last year in Lagos, Nigeria. I met Precious at a seminar we organized for pneumonia advocates; her mother brought her to shine a light on the real lives and families touched by pneumonia. Precious’ ordeal began innocuously as a fever, which her mother thought was malaria.

Each year, people all across the world come together on World Pneumonia Day to increase awareness about the disease that claims more lives than AIDS, Malaria and Measles combined. This year’s Activist Toolkit offers more resources to get involved and organize successful events that advance the cause of fighting the disease that takes the life of a young child every 20 seconds.

With more than 25 events scheduled in 15 countries, World Pneumonia Day 2011 is going to be busy, exciting and productive! Check out our map of global WPD2011 events and see what’s happening near you. Nothing happening nearby? Use our 2011 Activist Toolkit to get planning an event of your own! Let us know what you have in mind and how we can support you. We need your voice and your actions!