With around 11.25 million asthma patients in the country, 'World Asthma Day' was observed here on Tuesday with a renewed pledge that all-out efforts would continue to check the spread of asthma, which is on the rise, mainly due to pollution, unhealthy lifestyle and other multiple reasons.
To mark the Day, seminars, scientific sessions, symposiums, special camps and awareness programmes were organised across the country, said a spokesperson of Pakistan Chest Society while talking to Business Recorder here on Wednesday.
According to her, about 190,000 persons across the world die of asthma every year. Over the past decade, there had been 40 percent rise in the number of children afflicted by the disease. Globally, between 100 and 150 million people suffer from asthma; and the number is rising. Although largely avoidable, asthma tends to occur in epidemics and affects young people.
The human and economic burden associated with this condition is severe. The costs of asthma to society could be reduced to a large extent through concerted international and national action.
The Day was observed with the theme being 'The unmet needs of asthma'. The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), which aims at raising awareness about the disease, has given the call for observing the Day.
She said that asthma attacks people of all age groups, but often starts in childhood. It is a disease characterised by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing, which vary in severity and frequency from person to person. They may occur from hour to hour and day to day.
Asthma is a condition that causes inflammation of and obstruction on the airway. The muscles surrounding the air tubes of the lungs go into spasm, the mucous lining swells and secretions build up, making breathing difficult.
The symptoms of asthma vary from time to time. During attack, she said, the sufferer may make a wheezing or whistling sound while breathing, cough a great deal, and spit out mucous. Many things can trigger asthma, including allergens such as dust and pollen. In general, infection is the most common trigger of asthma.
Since asthma is a chronic condition, it requires continuous medical care. Patients with moderate to severe asthma have to take long-term medication, daily, to control the underlying inflammation to prevent symptoms and attacks. When symptoms occur, short-term medications are used to relieve them, she added.
Although asthma does not kill on the scale of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, failure to use appropriate drugs or comply with treatment, coupled with an under-recognition of the severity of the problem, can lead to avoidable deaths, most of which occur outside hospitals, she added.
Highlighting the relationship between diet and asthma, she said that children these days eat less fruit and vegetables and, instead, rely on fast food. This, she said, is thought to be one of the reasons behind the increase in asthma cases, world-wide. Ironically, a number of misconceptions still persist about diets for people with asthma. Patients are commonly told to avoid rice, milk, eggs and yoghurt, but in actuality they should just have a balanced diet, she asserted.
She also stressed the need to remove the social stigma attached to asthma in Pakistan. Patients with asthma can live a normal life, provided they get the appropriate treatment.
Comments
Comments are closed.