News and Press Releases

Despite the fact that we have evidence-based medicines to treat asthma – an alarming number of adults and children still die from asthma every year. With the fifth highest annual asthma mortality rate in the world¹ – South Africa desperately needs to reshape its approach to asthma management.

Asthma is an inflammatory respiratory condition of the airways and affects about 262-million people globally. In South Africa, more than 20% of children and 10-15% of adults have asthma. For those living with the illness it can reduce quality of life in varying degrees and it’s not uncommon to be hospitalised during an attack.

Recent updated global recommendations have overturned decades of asthma care and represent the most significant change in asthma management in over 30 years. This is according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA).

South Africa is ranked fifth for asthma mortality in the world and with the nation’s prevalence among the highest globally, the case for better control is clear. A new awareness campaign, #yes2breathe, highlights the need to re-examine asthma treatment based on updated global recommendations overturning decades of asthma care.

In this video Dr Mckay discusses what it means to be over reliant on your blue inhaler and how over-reliance on  reliever pumps has been linked to increased risk of asthma attacks.

There are 50 million children under the age of 15 living with asthma in sub-Saharan Africa, most of them are reportedly in South Africa. For parents or caregivers of these children managing the illness can be complicated and stressful. Added to that, new information suggests that asthma treatment needs urgent re-examining, leaving parents with questions about the dangers of being over reliant on reliever pumps.