On World Asthma Day respiratory health associations call for asthma care for all
May 1, 2023
Glenview, IL – The theme for World Asthma Day 2023 (May 2) is “Asthma care for all.” The
Forum of International Respiratory Societies
(FIRS), of which the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) is a
founding member, is calling on health care leaders and policymakers to
ensure access to effective, quality-assured medications, especially in low-
and middle-income countries.
Asthma is a major noncommunicable disease, affecting both children and
adults, and is the most common chronic disease among children. Asthma
affected an estimated
262 million people in 2019 and caused 455,000 deaths.
Airway inflammation drives asthma symptoms, including a cough, wheezing,
shortness of breath and chest tightness. The focus of asthma treatment is
inflammation in the lungs.
Most of the burden of asthma morbidity and mortality occurs in low- and
middle-income countries, where the disease is often underdiagnosed and
undertreated. Essential inhaled medications, particularly those containing
inhaled corticosteroids, are often unavailable or unaffordable, and this
explains much of the global burden of preventable asthma morbidity and
mortality.
It is unacceptable that, despite the availability of highly effective
therapies, global inequality in asthma care deprives so many children,
adolescents and adults of healthy lives and puts them at increased risk of
death. A World Health Assembly Resolution on universal access to affordable
and effective asthma care is needed to focus attention and investment on
addressing this need.
About World Asthma Day and GINA
World Asthma Day is organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA),
a World Health Organization collaborative organization founded in 1993.
GINA is working to improve the lives of people with asthma in every corner
of the globe. More about GINA’s global strategy for diagnosis, management
and prevention of asthma and World Asthma Day can be found at www.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 19,000+ 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 (FIRS)
The
Forum of International Respiratory Societies
(FIRS) is an organisation comprised of the world's leading international
respiratory societies working together to improve lung health globally:
American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American Thoracic Society
(ATS), Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR), Asociación
Latinoamericana de Tórax (ALAT), European Respiratory Society (ERS),
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union), Pan
African Thoracic Society (PATS), Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and
the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD).
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. For
more information about FIRS, please contact Fiona Salter, fional.salter@firsnet.org.