Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL, Say Respiratory Health Organizations
The Forum of International Respiratory Societies launches new campaign to increase access to asthma treatment.
On World Asthma Day 2025 (6 May), the call to action is clear: ‘Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL’. To highlight the lack of access to inhaled medicines for asthma and COPD in low-resource, high-burden settings, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is launching an education campaign Increasing Access to Inhaled Medicines. The campaign will engage governments, the United Nations, global health agencies, industry, donors and civil society organizations to take coordinated action to ensure availability of proven, effective treatments. GOLD is a founding member of FIRS.
Asthma affects over 260 million people and causes more than 450,000 deaths each year. It is also the commonest chronic disease in children and adolescents, affecting around 15% of young adolescents globally. Most of these deaths are preventable. Inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications are essential for managing asthma and preventing life-threatening attacks. But in many low- and middle-income countries—where 96% of global asthma deaths occur—access to these proven treatments remains dangerously limited.
Frontline healthcare professionals are critical to improving outcomes for people with asthma – we urge doctors and health care professionals to ensure that every individual with asthma receives appropriate, evidence-based treatment. This includes prescribing essential inhaled corticosteroid-containing medication—either alone or in combination with a reliever—to reduce the persistent burden of preventable asthma-related morbidity and mortality.
On World Asthma Day, FIRS and its members call on all sectors to step up efforts to ‘Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL’.
World Asthma Day was first organised by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) in 1998 and has grown each year to become one of the most important asthma events globally, with hundreds of awareness-raising activities taking place all over the world.
GINA’s global asthma strategy and resources are available at www.ginasthma.org and www.ginasthma.org/reports.
For more on asthma treatment, watch and listen to the ATS Breathe Easy podcast on biologics to treat asthma.
FIRS Increasing Access to Inhaled Medicines campaign aims to improve availability of essential inhaled therapies for asthma and COPD in low-resource, high-burden settings. The campaign will engage governments, international agencies, industry, donors and civil society to take coordinated action. With the 2025 UN High-level Meeting on NCDs approaching, the campaign highlights the urgent need for investment and policy change to ensure equitable access to effective, affordable inhaled medicines. Learn more here.