The Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has tasked all stakeholders in asthma care and management on taking practical steps to shore up treatment of the illness.
Board Chairman of Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF), Dr Chiwuike Uba, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Friday that asthma stakeholders needed to do more to stem the death rate resulting from the illness.
Uba said that although physicians in Nigeria appeared to have good knowledge of asthma, there are still practice gaps in its management.
According to him, a high standard of knowledge does not seem to directly imply high quality practice.
He said: “This suggests that part of the reason for the increase in mortality and morbidity among sufferers of the illness is poor diagnosis, poor governance and environmental management.
“This requires continuous training and retraining of physicians to keep them informed and up to date with international guidelines.
“Furthermore, it is urgent that the Federal Ministry of Health approves and publishes national guidelines on asthma management and also adopts international guidelines for local practice. This will assist in improving the quality of asthma care in Nigeria”.
The chairman, whose foundation deals with asthma patients support and care, said “to shore up asthma care in the country, stakeholders must first recognise asthma as a public health priority”.
He said this recognition should be followed by a political commitment to ensure adequate funding and multi-sectoral intervention through the development of partnerships and the use of multiple approaches.
He said: “Government policy should encourage and improve local production of asthma medications, provide subsidies and rebates for purchases, and expand Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
“In addition, the subsidy should be extended to ensure that physicians are adequately trained and central access to affordable WHO recommended medications for asthma treatment enhanced.
“Asthma, therefore, should be among the top priorities of Ministries of Health, development partners and CSOs when assessing health priorities, allocating resources, and evaluating the potential costs and benefits of public health interventions.”
Uba also challenged the government on stocking modern WHO-approved asthma medications in public health facilities, saying the facilities must having stocks of asthma medication in their pharmacies for easy reach, affordable and quality assurance.
NAN