ASTHMA is a disease that just about everyone is familiar with – we either have it ourselves or we know someone who is afflicted by it. A total of 339 million people around the world are affected by it. In Malaysia, almost two million adults and children have it, while respiratory diseases are the second most common cause of death in Ministry of Health hospitals.
For those unclear, asthma is a respiratory disease that is characterised by the chronic inflammation of the lungs. There are differing levels of severity, with approximately 250,000 people dying of asthma annually worldwide.
During today’s World Asthma Day Conference 2022 held in Kuala Lumpur, which was attended by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, healthcare experts, industry partners, as well as testimonials from someone with asthma, the common message was that the disease is not taken as seriously as other illnesses that are similarly widespread in society, and that there is not enough informed education on asthma itself.
“The challenges that we face as far as asthma is concerned is a microcosm of the challenges that our entire healthcare system faces,” said Khairy.
“As far as a common non-communicable disease (NCD) that affects approximately 2 million Malaysians. This is likely to be an underestimate as it is often underdiagnosed, undertreated, especially in more deprived segments of our society.
“Individuals with asthma and their families need continuous education to understand more about their condition, their treatment, triggers to avoid, and how to manage their symptoms at home.
“It’s also important to raise community awareness to reduce the myths and stigma associated with asthma in some settings.”
The theme of this year’s event was Closing Gaps in Asthma Care, focusing on addressing the variety of shortcomings that affect how asthma is treated in Malaysia. The stakeholders that attended the conference attested that asthma should be made an NCD priority by the Malaysian government, among other things.
“Dedicated asthma teams are not really available, this is very true coming from a health clinic like myself, a primary care physician for the past 21 years,” said Dr Sri Wahyu Taher, president of Malaysia Family Medicine Specialists Association.
“There is the dedicated team for diabetes, which has been mooted and advocated by the ministry of health, but there is a silence when it comes to a dedicated asthma team.
“So we need to fight this, we need to have a dedicated asthma team whereby these team members will be trained, will be efficient in actually diagnosing asthma,” she added.
She also cites an overdependence on reliever treatment – an overuse and overprescription of Saba, quick-acting drugs that reduce inflammation of the lungs but does not address the underlying symptoms of the disease.
“People take asthma very lightly, because when they exacerbate (the lungs) most of the time they resolve it and then it goes away, either by taking lots of relievers or by taking themselves to the clinic for a nebuliser then they go back home.”
Because asthma is an ‘invisible’ disease whose effects cannot be seen, especially when compared to a disease equally common, such as diabetes. In fact, the move to consider diabetes as an NCD was a positive one, but there is good reason why asthma was left behind.
Associate Professor Dr Pang Yong Kek, president of Malaysia Thoracic Society cites how the current Ministry of Health national strategy plan, which runs from 2016 to 2025, does not consider asthma an NCD, basically de-prioritising the disease on the national level.
Possible reforms include increasing education efforts among the public and doctors and paramedics. There are plenty of medical officers, but not enough of them have the right training to deal with asthma. There also needs to be less of a reliance on Saba and reliever therapy.
“The years that we have lost to the pandemic are a potent reminder that we need to work hard in ensuring that our healthcare system is robust and remains fit for purpose,” Khairy said. He added that the Ministry of Health was currently working on a White Paper for healthcare, which he said will be tabled to Parliament this November.
Before leaving the press conference, the health minister brought up the mooted Tobacco Smoking Control Bill.
“We are going after smoking, we are going after cigarettes, we are going after vaping, we want to make sure that there’s a generational ban for cigarettes, so that people born after 2009 will not be able to buy cigarettes ever in their lifetimes.
“This will not just help asthma patients, but it will also help everybody and it will reduce the disease burden brought about by smoking, whether vapes or cigarettes,” he said.
The event ended with healthcare experts pledging to improve asthma care in Malaysia, as well as Khairy and Asthma Malaysia co-founder Dr Helmy Haja Mydin relaunching the Asthma Malaysia website. – The Vibes, May 19, 2022
