We need to ensure that people with asthma can access inhaled medications that are essential both for controlling the underlying disease and treating attacks.
Asthma attacks cause great distress for sufferers and their careers, and these attacks may result in hospital admission and, in some cases, death. Inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications prevent asthma attacks by treating the underlying inflammation that causes asthma.
Doctors and allied health care professionals are called upon to ensure that every person with asthma is prescribed evidence-based, essential, inhaled corticosteroid-containing medication in addition to (or in combination with) reliever medication, to prevent the continuing avoidable morbidity and mortality from asthma.
Asthma is one of the most common chronic non-communicable diseases that affects over 260 million people and is responsible for over 450,000 deaths each year worldwide. Most of these deaths are preventable.
In low-middle-income countries, lack of availability or high cost of inhaled medicines, especially inhaled corticosteroid-containing inhalers, are major contributors to the fact that 96% of global asthma deaths occur in these countries.
Even in high income countries, high costs can mean that many people with asthma have limited access to essential inhaled medicines, resulting in poorly controlled asthma and preventable asthma deaths.
We call on everyone to increase their efforts to “Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL”, in all countries throughout the world. See www.ginasthma.org/reports.
