Pike Medical consultants is a proud supporter of 2010 The Year of the Lung. The overall goal of the Year of the Lung is to raise awareness about lung health among the public, initiate action in communities worldwide, and advocate for resources to combat lung disease including increased investment in basic, clinical and translational research worldwide. A key initiative is to begin to build a social movement for greater public awareness and policy action.
The main objectives of the 2010 Year of the Lung campaign are to:
1. Increase awareness for lung health and to initiate action in communities worldwide, and advocate for policy action to combat lung disease.
2. Reinforce the need to provide increased resources for basic and clinical research to improve patient care and quality of life.
3. Convey the message that most respiratory diseases are treatable, but that prevention is highly cost effective.
4. Spread the message that clean indoor and outdoor air is a fundamental human right and should be recognized as such.
FIRS members are organising this campaign because there is an urgent need for public and political awareness about the importance of lung health. The lack of awareness is a barrier to progress in the diagnosis, treatment and care of individuals suffering from lung diseases. Hundreds of millions of people around the world suffer every day from treatable and preventable respiratory diseases. Respiratory diseases rank second (after cardiovascular diseases) in terms of mortality, incidence, prevalence and costs. COPD, pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB) and lung cancer are the main respiratory causes of death worldwide.
According to the latest WHO estimates (2007), currently 300 million people have asthma, 210 million people have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) while countless millions have allergic rhinitis and other often under diagnosed chronic respiratory diseases. By 2020, out of 68.3 million deaths worldwide, 11.9 million will be caused by lung disease.Our patients and the patient organisations with whom we work with have inspired us to address this important issue. Asthma, lung cancer and (COPD) and other diseases of the lung, affect every family worldwide. They cause much individual suffering and have a major economic impact, due to healthcare costs and time off work. Yet the overall burden of respiratory disease is inadequately addressed and likely to be severely underestimated. All these factors impede support for research into lung disease and the translation of discoveries into better diagnostic methods and effective treatments.
To learn more about the campaign go to http://www.yearofthelung.org/
