Professional Documents
Culture Documents
It is estimated that asthma accounts for about 1 in every 250 deaths worldwide. Many of
the deaths are preventable, being due to suboptimal long-term medical care and delay in
obtaining help during the final attack.
The Global Burden of Asthma Report identifies a number of barriers to reducing the
burden of asthma, as well as actions that can be taken to reduce the burden. In many
countries, resources need to be directed to improve asthma care among disadvantaged
groups with high morbidity, including certain racial groups and those who are poorly
educated, live in large cities, or are poor. Efforts also need to be made to address
preventable factors, such as air pollution and cigarette smoke, that trigger exacerbations
of asthma. These challenges underline the need to raise awareness of asthma throughout
the worldan effort in which World Asthma Day plays an important role, Professor
Beasley adds.
The Global Burden of Asthma Report is a comprehensive survey of the prevalence and
impact of asthma around the world, based on standardized data collected in epidemiology
studies in more than 80 countries. This groundbreaking report has been written by
Richard Beasley, Matthew Masoli, Denise Fabian, and Shaun Holt, of the Medical
Research Institute of New Zealand and the University of Southampton in the UK. Initial
results of the Report were released on World Asthma Day 2003; the Report is being
released in full today.
The Report was commissioned by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), an effort
launched in 1993 to work with healthcare professionals and public health officials around
the world to reduce the burden of asthma. Guidelines for the diagnosis and management
of asthma prepared by GINA have been adapted for use in a variety of settings around the
world, illustrating how asthma management programs can be tailored to fit the local
culture and level of resources available.
GINA also sponsors World Asthma Day, held each year on the first Tuesday in May. This
event aims to raise awareness of asthma around the world and encourage individual
countries to take urgent action and make asthma a major health priority within their own
regions.
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