The year of the Lung

2010 has been declared The year of the Lung, by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS). This declaration was made 40th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cancún, Mexico on 6 December 2009.



Why did the forum feel the need to make this declaration? The underlying reason is to rise awareness of respiratory disease. The forum feels this is still an under resourced and recognised area globally. Some of the facts stated on their website are:

• Hundreds of millions of people struggle each year for life and breath due to lung diseases, including tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia, influenza, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, and more than 10 million die.


• Chronic respiratory diseases cause approximately 7% of all deaths worldwide and represent 4% of the global burden of disease;


• Lung diseases afflict people in every country and every socioeconomic group, but take the heaviest toll on the poor, the old, the young and the weak;


• Deadly synergies exist between diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, influenza and asthma, COPD and lung cancer;


• Diseases once primarily found in industrialized countries, such as asthma, COPD and lung cancer, are now major problems in low- and middle-income countries and threaten to overwhelm public health services;


• The cost of lung disease runs to billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and increased health care expenses – to say nothing of diminished and ruined lives;


• Yet public demand and political commitment remain inadequate to effect significant change.

Globally the forum recognises;

• The connection between breath and life is fundamental, yet the evidence shows that lung health is not high on the public health agenda:


• Tobacco use remains legal, although it kills more than 5 million people each year, including 1.3 million who die of lung cancer, and it affects the health of hundreds of thousands of others who are exposed to its effects secondhand;


• No new drugs have been developed for tuberculosis in more than 5 decades and the only vaccine is nearly a century old, yet there were more than 9 million new cases in 2007, and this curable disease kills 1.7 million each year;


• Pneumonia kills more than 2 million children under 5 each year – one child every 15 seconds -- despite the fact that it can be treated effectively and inexpensively;


• Most of the 250,000 deaths from asthma each year can be attributed to lack of proper treatment.


• Although it will be the 3rd leading cause of death worldwide by 2020, COPD is frequently not diagnosed;


• Nearly half of the world’s population lives in or near areas with poor air quality.

There are many aims that the forum and its partners aims to achieve during this 12 month period. One of these aims is to 'to ensure that every health worker, parent, child, teacher, employer, religious leader, community leader, media representative and government official understands the risks and symptoms of lung diseases and how to keep lungs healthy, because lung health is essential to breath and life'.

We all have a role to play in this no matter how big or how small. Strategies and interventions on how we can affect change should always be on the agenda. Whether it is being an advocate for tobacco control measures, speaking to a community group about lung disease or providing a patient with resources so they may learn more about a particular lung disease.

Jessica