FIRS Organizations

Simple message

If the Sustained Development Goals

are going to be successful, we must
address the burden of lung disease
 Non-communicable disease burden
Non-communicable diseases account for about
of worlds deaths each year
More than 40% are premature and preventable
Cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and lung
disease account for the majority of deaths,
disability, and financial cost.
 Lung disease
Of the NCDs, respiratory diseases are the least
recognized, least represented
Perhaps because we take breathing for granted
Perhaps proponents have not been vocal enough
 Burden: COPD
More than 65 million people suffer from COPD
3 million die from it each year
The third leading cause of death worldwide
The numbers are increasing
 Burden: Asthma
About 334 million people suffer from asthma
Most common chronic disease of childhood
Affect 14% of children globally
Its prevalence in children is rising
 Burden: Pneumonia
Among top causes of death for decades
Causes about 4 million deaths annually
Leading cause of death in children under five
(outside the neonatal period)
 Burden: Tuberculosis
10.4 million cases annually (2015)
1.4 million deaths
Most fatal infectious disease
 Burden: Lung cancer
Most common lethal neoplasm in the world
It kills 1.6 million people each year
In many countries, more death than the next 4
cancers combined
The numbers are growing
 Burden: Sleep apnoea
More than 100 million people suffer from sleep-
disordered breathing
Affect 5 to 10% of adults in many settings
 Burden: Occupational lung disease
More than 50 million people struggle with
occupational lung diseases.
Work places mineral and organic dusts,
bioaerosols, and fumes
 Burden: Pulmonary hypertension
Pulmonary hypertension occurs in 1% of the
worlds population
10% of those over 65 years of age
 Burden: Pulmonary embolism
Reported at 6-20 per hundred thousand
Grossly underestimated
Mild: go unnoticed
Terminal: attributed to other conditions
 Pollution and climate change
Lungs on the front line
Polluted air enters through the lungs
Global warming air pollution
Warming changes habitats
Changing habitat infection patterns
 Emergency preparedness
Causative agents disseminated through air
Outbreaks of viral pandemics lungs
Chemical and biologic warfare or terrorism
Environmental exposure & lung disease
2 billion people exposed to indoor smoke
1 billion inhale outdoor polluted air
1 billion are exposed to tobacco smoke
 Premature deaths
Four million people die prematurely from chronic
respiratory disease annually.
Forum of International Respiratory Societies

Recommendations
 Recommendation 1

Increase public and policy makers awareness that

respiratory health is essential to global health and
that childhood respiratory disease may have long-
term negative consequences on adult health by
advocating at world health meetings and through
publications and media postings
 Recommendation 2

Reduce, and then eliminate, the use of all tobacco

products through universal support of the
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
 Recommendation 3

Adopt WHO [air quality] standards, at a minimum, to

reduce ambient, indoor, and occupational air
pollution for all countries

Everyone has the right to breathe clean air!

 Recommendation 4

Promote universal access to quality healthcare,

including the availability of affordable, quality-
assured, essential medicines and universal coverage
for childhood and adult immunisations, including new
conjugate vaccines by advocacy through WHO and
government programmes
 Recommendation 5

Improve early diagnosis of respiratory diseases

through improving awareness and access to current
procedures and the development of new tools
through world health meetings and publications
 Recommendation 6

Increase education and training of health

professionals in respiratory disease worldwide
though programmes of the FIRS societies, WHO and
other governmental and non-governmental
organisations
 Recommendation 7

Standardise the monitoring of the prevalence,

severity and management of respiratory diseases to
enable development of well- informed national
strategies though programmes of WHO and
governmental and non-governmental organisations
 Recommendation 8

Increase respiratory research to develop

programmes, tools and strategies to better prevent
and treat respiratory diseases though advocacy for
governmental and non-governmental research
organisations
 How can this be done?
Enlisting broad support
Invigorating organizations
Increasing awareness

Goal of World Lung Day

FIRS Organizations
 Charter for Lung Health

Calls for
Clean air and healthy lungs
Raised awareness
Improved health care access
Eliminate preventable disease
Research and education
 Charter for Lung Health

100,000 individuals to sign on

http://www.firsnet.org/
All health organizations
Send assent to charter, logo, contact information to:
Dean.Schraufnagel@firsnet.org
 Alleviating burden of lung disease must be a main
strategy of SDGs and requirement for nations

Goals are achievable

Ability to control, prevent, and cure respiratory

diseases cost-effective
 Paula Fujiwara, MD
Scientific Director
The Union
Highlight the activities of one of the FIRS
organizations
FIRS Organizations