World Asthma Day - 7th May, 2024 | Theme, Importance & Prevention

World Asthma Day is a global healthcare event commemorated every year on the first Tuesday in May to promote awareness of asthma worldwide. This year 2024 World Asthma Day is observed on 7th of May (Tuesday). On this day, various global and local organizations step forward together to combat the major global non-communicable disease in children and adults.

World Asthma Day 2024 theme

This year, 2024, the World Asthma Day theme is “Asthma Education Empowers”. This theme emphasizes the need of educating people with asthma on how to manage their disease and when to seek medical attention.

The GINA strives to encourage all resource countries to develop and promote comprehensive asthma management programmes that curb global mortality and morbidity rates.

Year by year, the theme for World Asthma Day

• World Asthma Day 2023 Theme (May 2): Asthma Care for All
• World Asthma Day 2022 Theme (May 3): Closing Gaps in Asthma Care
• World Asthma Day 2021 Theme (May 5): Uncovering Asthma Misconceptions
• World Asthma Day 2020 Theme (May 5): Enough Asthma Deaths
• World Asthma Day 2019 Theme (May 7): STOP for Asthma
• World Asthma Day 2018 Theme (May 1): Never too early, never too late

Importance of World Asthma Day (WAD)

Asthma is the most frequent chronic condition among children and adults worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other governing authorities considered asthma as both a factor and an effect of poverty in low- and middle-income countries. According to the WHO, 26.2 crore people suffer from asthma, with a mortality count (deaths) of 4.55 lakh globally in 2019.

As per the Global Burden of Disease Report (GBDR) 2019, India has the highest and growing burden of asthma in the world in terms of deaths and disability-adjusted life years, and over 3.4 crores of people in India have asthma, despite accounting for only 13% of the world's asthma population, and 42% of global asthma mortality. 

Both the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases recognise asthma as a priority and implement various strategies to increase asthma diagnosis, prevention and treatment. People with asthma in India face a disproportionately high burden of daily symptoms, negative impacts on quality of life, and absence from school and job. In addition, researchers in India, New York City, Spain, Turkey, and Bahrain have observed a lack of understanding and practice in the care of asthma in children and concluded that training programmes are necessary to increase understanding of children's needs and cut down on student absences from school.

The goal of this year's theme, "Asthma Care for All," is to encourage all resource-rich countries to create and execute comprehensive asthma management programmes that include but not limiting to:

• Updating recent information in prevention, diagnosis and treatment to pulmonologists
• To conduct an asthma screening clinic (one day) for free, sponsored by a newspaper or pharmaceutical company
• To create a radio advertisement about World Asthma Day, asthma control, ways to improve it, and how it affects hospitalization.
• To reach rural locations, organize a diagnostic, education, and treatment bus tour or a customized bus to carry patients to clinics.
• To educate children on or before World Asthma Day by visiting schools and conducting peak flow meter tests.
• Exhibiting asthma facts, therapies, control, and the link between uncontrolled asthma and hospitalization in the local hospitals.
• To create an informative website with asthma clinic information.
• To inform local and national media about World Asthma Day, the local region's asthma burden, hospitalizations, and asthma control.
• To invite asthmatic politicians and celebrities for support
• To invite local celebrities and asthmatics to participate in World Asthma Day-sponsored walks, runs, swims, and soccer games.

History of World Asthma Day (WAD)

World Asthma Day is organized by the GINA, a World Health Organization collaborative organization founded in 1993. In 1998, more than 35 countries observed World Asthma Day, associated with the first World Asthma Meeting in Barcelona, Spain. Since then, World Asthma Day participation has grown, and the day has evolved into one of the world's most important asthma awareness and education activities.

Asthma prevention

Asthma can be avoided by following the subsequent points: 

• Avoiding exposure to asthma triggers such as air pollution, cold air, fragrances etc
• Avoid contact with allergens
• Avoid smoke from cigarettes, candles, incense, and fireworks
• Staying away from sick people (cold or the flu)
• Keep the surroundings dust free
• Taking vaccinations on time to prevent pneumonia, diphtheria, tetanus, zoster vaccine, and whooping cough
• Adherent to asthma medications

Department of Pulmonology