From: Petrus Obi, Enugu

A  former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba, and a former governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, are part of dignitaries expected in Enugu for the annual Asthma Conference scheduled for next month.

The conference, organised by the Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation, is aimed to create awareness on asthma, educate and train the public on various ways to manage asthma patients to reduce morbidity and mortality.

Chairman Board of Trustees of the Foundation, Mr. Chiwuike Uba, in a pre-event press briefing, noted that the conference would also serve as a platform to brainstorm, share information, review and evaluate progress and challenges in the diagnosis and management of asthma.

“In addition, the conference acts as a forum for public debates and policy dialogue on rethinking asthma management in Nigeria.”

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He noted that asthma is one of the worlds most common long term conditions currently affecting over 300 million people worldwide and projected to increase by another 100 million people by the year 2025.

“In Nigeria it is estimated that more than 15 million Nigerians have asthma, with about 5-10% of children in any given community suffering from asthma.

“Notwithstanding the availability of different asthma drugs, significant number still die from the disease. More so, an estimated 75% hospital admissions for asthma and as many as 90% of the asthma deaths are avoidable.”

Uba observed that the inadequate attention given to the management of asthma and ways of improving treatment could b a significant factor for the increase in morbidity and mortality from asthma despite major advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease.

More than 150 participants drawn from all the sectors of the Nigerian economy especially the health, are expected to attend the conference scheduled for Enugu on July 6, 2017.