Celebrated on the first Tuesday of the month of May, World Asthma Day is an annually hosted event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to enhance asthma awareness and care. World Asthma Day is aimed at raising support for all the people who are a target of this precarious disease. But what is asthma? It is a chronic disease of the lungs which causes numerous breathing troubles which include breathlessness, coughing, wheezing and a feeling of tightness in the chest, on the primary level.
Established in the year 1998 by GINA, the first World Asthma Meeting took place in Barcelona, Spain in which almost 35 countries too part. GINA decides a theme, every year in order to facilitate celebration as well as distribute the materials and resources to the various organizers to regulate events. Countless health care professionals, members, educators, and other health care organizations contribute in the celebration by showing activities associated to asthma at many public places. They main objective is to aid individuals in reducing their burden of the chronic disease. In due course of time, this day has grown to widely recognise and establish the importance of asthma awareness and care around the world.
INTERESTING FACTS:
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 235 million people are currently suffering from Asthma.
- Because of increased air pollution levels, it is predicted that Asthma deaths will increase in the next ten years if no precaution is taken.
- Asthma is a major non communicable disease.
- It is most common form of chronic disease in children.
- Life expectancy of an asthmatic patient and a non-asthmatic patient is the same.
- Most asthma related deaths result from a lack of oxygen and not a cardiac arrest. This is significant because rapid oxygen administration can prevent asthma related deaths.
- Boys are more likely to develop asthma than girls because studies show that they develop more positive allergy tests than girls.
- According to a report by WHO, approximately 15-20 million asthmatics are in India.
- Though polluted air is the main cause of asthma, many people are not aware of the fact that water can also cause asthma. Dehydration, as well as water contamination, triggers asthma.
- A recent study stated that the burden of asthma in India is way higher than that of Tuberculosis and HIV combined.
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