Asthma Education Is Key to Reducing Deaths Worldwide, Say Respiratory Health Associations
May 2, 2024
GLENVIEW, IL - On World Asthma Day 2024 (May 7), the message is clear: "Asthma
Education Empowers." The Forum of International Respiratory
Societies (FIRS), of which the American College of Chest Physicians
(CHEST) is a founding member, stresses the crucial role of education
in empowering people with asthma to manage their condition
effectively and to know when to seek medical assistance.
FIRS also urges health care professionals to enhance their awareness
of the preventable morbidity and mortality from asthma and of the
published evidence on effective asthma management, so they are
equipped to provide reliable information and optimal treatment for
their patients.
Asthma is one of the most common chronic noncommunicable diseases
that affects more than 260 million people and is responsible for
more than 450,000 deaths each year worldwide, most of which are
preventable.
Key universal issues on which education is required are:
-
underdiagnosis or inaccurate diagnosis,
-
underuse of antiinflammatory inhaled corticosteroid
inhalers,
-
overuse of and overreliance on short-acting β2-agonist
inhalers and
-
poor recognition of patients requiring specialist assessment
and further management.
In low- and middle-income countries, lack of availability of inhaled
medicines, and especially inhaled corticosteroid-containing
inhalers, is a major contributor to the fact that more than 90% of
asthma deaths occur in these countries.
FIRS calls on policymakers and the pharmaceutical industry to recognize
the ongoing issue of preventable illness caused by this common disease,
despite the existence of highly effective controller treatments, and to
step up efforts to make sure environmentally friendly inhaled
medications are available in all countries, ensuring everyone has access
and leaving no one behind.
World Asthma Day was first held in 1998 and has grown each year to
become one of the most important asthma events globally. On World Asthma
Day, hundreds of awareness-raising activities will take place in
countries all over the world. Further information about the Global
Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and World Asthma Day can be found at GINA’s
website: ginasthma.org.
Documents detailing GINA’s global strategy for diagnosis, management and
prevention of asthma are also available
at ginasthma.org.
About the American College of Chest Physicians
The American College of Chest Physicians® (CHEST) is the global leader
in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chest diseases. Its
mission is to champion advanced clinical practice, education,
communication and research in chest medicine. It serves as an essential
connection to clinical knowledge and resources for its 22,000+ members
from around the world who provide patient care in pulmonary, critical
care and sleep medicine. For information about the American College of
Chest Physicians, and its flagship journal CHEST®,
visit chestnet.org.
About the Forum of International Respiratory Societies
The
Forum of International Respiratory Societies
(FIRS) is an organization comprised of the world's leading international
respiratory societies working together to improve lung health
globally. The goal of FIRS is to unify and enhance efforts to improve
lung health through the combined work of its more than 70,000 members
globally.
FIRS comprises the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST),
American Thoracic Society (ATS), the Asian Pacific Society of
Respirology (APSR), Asociación Latinoamericana de Tórax (ALAT), European
Respiratory Society (ERS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and
Lung Disease (The Union), Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS), the
Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and the Global Initiative for
Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD).