13 million Nigerians suffer from Asthma – Adeyeye, LASU don

…Says disease under-prioritised

By Elizabeth Osayande

A Professor of Medicine at the Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo, Professor Olufunke Olayinka Adeyeye, has said no fewer than 13 million Nigerians suffer from Asthma, a respiratory disease.

This is just as she said that despite it being a life-threatening illness, Asthma has not been given the necessary attention in Nigeria’s health care system.

She stated this while delivering the 118th Inaugural Lecture Series of the University titled,”Breath in Bondage: Breaking the Yoke of Asthma with Knowledge and Action.”

According to her, Bronchial Asthma, a common, chronic illness, is frequently misdiagnosed, and sadly, under-prioritised in the nation’s healthcare systems.

“Asthma, when neglected or poorly managed, as is too often the case in our environment, becomes a yoke that restricts the physical, emotional, social, and economic well-being of its victims, robbing them of dignity and freedom and limiting their potential. It is a clinical diagnosis with profound effects, exerting emotional, social, and economic burden on individuals, families, and communities.

“In Nigeria, asthma is frequently unseen, misjudged, or ignored. It is a disease that wears many disguises: The persistent “catarrh” that never resolves, the “chest pain” dismissed in overburdened clinics, The child who coughs all night but is told to “drink hot water and sleep”, or at best wear another layer of clothing to prevent exposure to cold “, The adult with nocturnal cough and breathlessness, misdiagnosed and treated for heart failure etc.

“There is a widespread failure to recognise and respond to asthma as the chronic, potentially life-threatening respiratory condition that it is.

The metaphor “breath in bondage” vividly captures the experience of asthma sufferers, the sensation of breathlessness, chest tightness and the struggle to breathe they experience. It evokes the image of being restrained, restricted, or even suffocated, as they fight for each breath.

“An earlier study in Nigeria estimated that 13 million people are affected by asthma. Prevalence tends to increase with age, and varies across the country depending on urbanization, pollution, and healthcare access.

“Asthma is responsible for about 1,000 deaths each day. Though often manageable, asthma can be life-threatening without appropriate diagnosis and treatment.”

She also postulated that the stigma surrounding asthma also plays a powerful role.

“Individuals with asthma are often labelled as weak, overprotected, or attention-seeking. Adolescents may feel embarrassed using inhalers in public. In some communities, asthma is attributed to spiritual or cultural causes, further delaying proper medical care.”

Giving recommendations as to combat the disease, Adeyeye said, “NCD prevention and control includes population wide interventions to reduce risk factor exposure, individual approaches to modify risk factors for high-risk individuals, and treatment of NCDs. Investing in better management of NCDs is critical.

Management of NCDs includes detecting, screening and treating these diseases, and providing access to care for people in need.

“There is need to implement the WHO package of essential non communicable (PEN)
disease interventions for primary health care.

“There is a need to Integrate asthma care into the national non-communicable disease (NCD) strategy and make essential asthma medications especially inhaled corticosteroids to be not only listed in national drug formularies but also subsidized and made readily available for patients. Not only as a document but to be truly implemented.

“There is need to improve access to diagnosis and with ready availability of tools such as peak flow meters, spirometers, FeNO machine and other tools for Biomarkers of inflammation amongst others.

“The need to Establish school-based asthma programmes cannot be over emphasized to include screening for asthma on enrolment, training teachers and caregivers on asthma emergency preparedness, asthma action plans, asthma school friendly policies and education to avoid stigmatization.

“The government should Support postgraduate training and research in pulmonology, where we presently have few trainees and encourage operational and translational research on asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases focusing on locally relevant interventions.”

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