Chronic respiratory diseases

Chronic respiratory diseases, which affect the airways and lungs, impede the lives of over 454 million people worldwide.

Context

Often labelled the ‘forgotten’ non-communicable disease (NCD), chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are the third leading cause of global mortality, resulting in four million deaths every year.

Some of the most common CRDs are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, occupational lung diseases and pulmonary hypertension. Symptoms from these conditions can affect people daily and include wheezing, breathlessness, cough and mucus production.

Despite rising prevalence, CRDs have garnered limited public attention and research funding, especially in comparison with other conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

Addressing CRDs should be a strategic opportunity for all countries, regardless of income level. Doing so will be instrumental for countries to achieve their commitments as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to reduce mortality from NCDs by 30% by 2030, a goal that most countries are not on track to achieve.

Given commonalities across different CRDs, taking an integrated approach to lung health would enable governments to use resources efficiently. Progress is needed to improve preventive approaches, proactively identify people at risk of CRDs, tackle underdiagnosis, improve timely access to effective care, address underlying inequities and drive system changes that may ultimately tackle all CRDs simultaneously.

What we’ve achieved

HPP convened a multidisciplinary group of international experts to support the development of a policy report, published in September 2024 in English and Spanish.

The report includes recommendations for governments and policymakers to take action on CRDs in four key areas: improving population health through primary prevention; facilitating proactive detection and early diagnosis; improving access to, and quality of, care; and building strategic and supportive policies for tackling CRDs. If implemented, these recommendations would address major barriers to care and ultimately improve the lives of people living with CRDs.

This followed the publication of an infographic in November 2023 to raise awareness of the impact of CRDs and the need for policy action around the world.

This is part of a larger programme of work on respiratory diseases, which includes severe asthma and COPD.

Key partners and stakeholders

This project is supported by a multidisciplinary Steering Committee:

Professor Chunxue Bai, Emeritus Professor, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, China, and Chair, International Association for Metaverse in Medicine
Professor Job Van Boven, Associate Professor of Respiratory Health Economics and Drug Outcomes Research, Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD (GRIAC), University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands
Professor Joanna Chorostowska-Wynimko, Vice-President, European Respiratory Society, and Head, Department of Genetics and Clinical Immunology, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Poland
Zachary Desson, Principal Scientific and Policy Advisor, European Health Management Association, Belgium
Professor Christine Jenkins, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and The George Institute for Global Health, Australia
Dr Mary Johnson, Principal Research Scientist, Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, US
Professor Ee Ming Khoo, President, International Primary Care Respiratory Group, and Honorary Professor, Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia
Tonya Winders, President and CEO, Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform, Austria (based in US)
Dr Dawei Yang, Attending Physician and Associate Researcher, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, China
Professor Arzu Yorgancioglu, Chair, Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Board of Directors, and Department of Pulmonology, Celal Bayar University Medical Faculty, Turkey

Project funding

This project was initiated and funded by AstraZeneca, which commissioned The Health Policy Partnership to develop the policy narrative with insights from an expert steering committee. None of the experts involved in the Steering Committee were paid for their time.

Chronic respiratory diseases