This year’s World Asthma Day celebration has been commemorated in Accra on the theme: “Make inhaled treatment accessible to all.”

It was aimed at raising awareness of asthma, which remains a growing public health challenge globally, so as to improve access to inhaled treatment for asthma patients.

The event, held at the Trust Premium Centre in Osu yesterday, was organised by Trust Hospital, in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

In attendance were health professionals and other stakeholders.

Situation

The Chief Executive Officer of the Trust Hospital, Dr Juliana Oye Armah, described asthma as a silent epidemic that continued to claim lives due to limited access to life-saving inhalers, especially in low-and middle-income countries.

Citing the World Health Organisation data, she said that asthma caused nearly 1,979 deaths in Ghana in 2020, accounting for 1.13 per cent of total mortality in the country, while many cases went unmanaged due to stigma, denial and lack of awareness.

The disease also affects over 262 million people worldwide and causes more than 455,000 deaths annually.

“This year’s theme is a timely reminder that access to treatment must be a priority. We must break down financial, geographic and systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing care,” she said.

A senior specialist in family medicine and asthma, who is also the Medical Director at Finney Hospital and Fertility Centre, Dr Allen Steele-Dadzie, said asthma was not curable, but manageable, adding that the key to treatment laid in effective healthcare systems.

He urged clinicians to recognise the condition early and enrol patients in asthma clinics for the right medications and monitoring, adding “we must ensure that what we prescribe can actually be purchased”.

The Chief of Medical Staff and family physician at the Trust Hospital, Dr Nana Ama Abankwa, emphasised the need for a holistic and patient-centered approach to asthma care.

She described asthma as a disease that impacted quality of life across all age groups, with many cases going undiagnosed or poorly managed.

Dr Abankwa said asthma management should go beyond medication to include education, lifestyle adjustments, early diagnosis, correct inhaler use and addressing comorbidities such as allergic rhinitis and obesity.

She also highlighted the growing burden of asthma in the country, and said that the Trust Hospital recorded over 4,000 asthma cases in 2023, with a significant number of patients being children aged two to 16 years.

Dr Abankwa advocated wider adoption of innovative therapies such as SMART (Single Maintenance and Reliever Therapy), and commended the government’s efforts to include asthma medications under the National Health Insurance Scheme.