Asthma is a serious global health problem. Around 300 million individuals worldwide have asthma, and approximately 250,000 people die from asthma attacks every year, mostly in low-income countries. We at Asthma International, in collaboration with distinguished clinicians around the world, are about to undertake an innovative project to supply asthma medications to 100 children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, over a six-year period.
29% of children at 12-13 years old in Vietnam have wheezing indicative of asthma, the highest figure in Asia. Current provision is extremely patchy, and it is estimated that many thousands of children are currently going untreated, or are being supplied with over-the-counter combination tablets which contain ephedrine, theophylline and oral steroids, many of which are dangerous.
Asthma International will provide generic drugs such as Salbutamol and Beclometasone, bought at low cost from the Asthma Drug Facility (http://www.globalasthmanetwork.org/adf/adf.php), which can then be prescribed by qualified doctors in Vietnam. The cost per child for controlled asthma is around 86 cents per week, which includes all administrative costs.
It will treat 100 asthmatic children in Vietnam over a period of six years, during the most important period of their physical, educational and social development. The project will focus particularly on children, since good lung function in early life is crucial for healthy development, and children born with uncontrolled asthma never achieve the lung volume they should. Our interventions will enable them to have a healthy childhood and grow up to be productive members of their society.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
