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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Our correspondent
Islamabad
World Asthma Day is being observed in Pakistan like other parts of the world today (May 5), with the theme ‘You Can Control Your Asthma’ to raise awareness about the disease and improve its care and treatment. More than 20% of children below the age of 15 and around 10% of adults are estimated to be suffering from the disease in Pakistan.
The Ministry of Environment is collaborating with the Ministry of Health and the Allergy and Asthma Institute of Pakistan to organise an awareness-raising event regarding the World Asthma Day 2009. The Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi will be the chief guest and would address a joint press conference with the Secretary Ministry of Health, Khusnood Akhtar Lashari. Similar activities are being organised by the provincial governments and other stakeholders working to highlight the importance of the disease and taking measures for its eradication. The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) is encouraging special focus on young children suffering from asthma and communicating the message to the parents that ‘Your Child’s Asthma Can be Controlled’.
Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways in lungs, which causes more than 250,000 premature deaths every year worldwide. In Pakistan more than 20% of children below the age of 15 and around 10% of adults are estimated to be suffering from the disease.
Health experts believe that dust, mites, pollution, smoking, industrial waste, change in dietary habits and lifestyle could be some of the reasons for the rise in number of asthma patients. In Pakistan, the major allergens include house dust mites, dust from wheat threshing, rice husking and cotton ginning, pollens from paper mulberry plants (in Islamabad, Attock, Peshawar, and Sialkot), wild bhang or cannabis (in Northern Pakistan), prosodies glandulous, the common keekri bush in Karachi and Southern Sindh, and various other plants.
According to a spokesman at the Ministry of Environment, the ministry is focusing on environmental issues, which are major cause of asthma. The ministry has taken measures to bring down the level of suspended particulate matters, which include improved fuel by eliminating lead from petrol, reducing sulphur and diesel from 1% to 0.6%. The further reduction of sulphur from 0.06% to 0.05% would be achieved by the year 2010. Air quality monitoring stations in major cities have been established which include two each in Lahore and Karachi and one each in Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad. Emission testing centre along with vehicle examination would be established and a pilot project in this context has been initiated in Islamabad. Euro-II emission standards would be introduced for new petrol vehicle from July 1, 2009 and for diesel vehicles from July 1, 2012.
The ministry is also actively participating for asthma control medication as the Ozone Cell of the ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and also working for conversion of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) based Metered Doze Inhaler (MDI- the most commonly used medicine for treatment for asthma and other respiratory diseases) Industry into ozone friendly technology with the financial assistance of Montreal Protocol Secretariat, Canada.
Allergy and Asthma Specialist Dr M Osman Yusuf apprising about the causes and effects of the asthma said that asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood and the leading cause of childhood school/daycare absences, emergency department visits, and hospitalisations. The prevalence of asthma has increased considerably over the past 20 years, especially in children. There are special challenges that must be taken into account in managing asthma in children during the first five years of life.
On World Asthma Day, May 5, 2009, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) would release a new report, Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention in Children, which synthesises the current state of scientific evidence on asthma in this age group.
According to the ministry spokesman, the joint initiatives being taken by the Ministry of Environment with various relevant departments and organisations both in the government and private sector would benefit 30 million asthmatics in the country.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
