Asthma: the need for good control.

World Asthma Day is an annual event organised by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) in collaboration with healthcare groups and asthma educators to improve asthma awareness and the care of asthma patients around the world. Each year GINA chooses a theme and prepares and distributes World Asthma Day materials and resources. This year’s World Asthma Day was 5 May 2009, with the theme “You Can Control Your Asthma”. The theme is consistent with the emphasis on asthma control set out in the latest versions of the GINA guideline documents. It is designed to emphasise that asthma control is the goal of treatment, and can be achieved in the vast majority of asthma patients with proper management.1 The importance and need for good control of asthma is also spelt out in most local and international guidelines on asthma management, including the local Ministry of Health (MOH) asthma clinical practice guidelines.2 An estimated 300 million people worldwide have asthma, according to the Global Burden of Asthma Report (available from www.ginasthma.org), a compilation of published data on the prevalence and impact of asthma around the world. The report, released by GINA on World Asthma Day 2004, shows that many asthma patients around the world have unmet needs, related to their illness, that lead to poor asthma control. It also documents that the prevalence of asthma is increasing throughout the world, particularly as communities become more urbanised. As the proportion of urban dwellers increases around the world, it is estimated that there may be an additional 100 million persons with asthma by 2025. The number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to asthma worldwide has been estimated to be 15 million per year, contributing to 1% of total DALYs lost, refl ecting the high prevalence and severity of asthma. The Singapore burden of disease study estimated that asthma accounted for almost 4400 DALYs lost in the year 2004, 1.2% of the total DALYs lost in Singapore.2 Besides a high burden of disease, poorly-controlled asthma remains all too common in Singapore. A population-based survey revealed that patients in Singapore and the region experience Asthma: The Need for Good Control John Abisheganaden,1MMed (Int Med), FRCP (Edin), FAMS