BY SOLA OGUNDIPE & CHIOMA OBINNA

Nigeria has no National Asthma Management Guideline as endorsed by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). This is the situation regardless of the fact that 15 – 20 million Nigerians are either suffering from asthma or are having symptoms suggestive of asthma.

Asthma guidelines is a document that contains advancement in the treatment, proper diagnosis amongst others on asthma aimed at improving the quality of lives of asthmatic patients around the world.

This worrisome discovery came to the limelight last week when health experts who gathered at a media event to mark this year’s World Asthma Day in Lagos, with the theme: You can Control Your Asthma,expressed concern about the development which they say portends danger for asthma patients in the country.

Good Health Weekly was reliably informed that although, in 2003, an attempt was made to inaugurate a committee to design a set of national guidelines for management of the disorder, the effort amounted to nought as the committee has remained in the cooler and the country is yet to come up with an acceptable guideline.

It was equally gathered that a 2009/2010 study by Olufemi Olumuyiwa Desalua and colleagues on Tertiary Health Institutions in Nigeria showed that the available facilities and human resources for asthma management in Nigerian tertiary hospitals were not enough to support the standard internationally endorsed for asthma care. The study suggested that provision of deficient infrastructures and continuous training of health care personnel in asthma management are imperative to enhance the quality of care.

Making these revelations and others at the event organised GlaxoSmithKline, Consultant Chest Physician at the College of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Dr Cyril Chukwu said a national guideline would help reduce asthma prevalence, morbidity and mortality as well as improve the lives of people with asthma in Nigeria and the world at large.

Calling on the Nigerian government to urgently set up an active committee comprising health professionals from every part of the country to set up the much-needed guidelines as recommended by GINA, Chukwu, further noted that even though asthma control could be achieved, data showed that the majority of patients are still uncontrolled despite frequent visits to their doctors or pharmacists.

Uncontrolled asthma, he warned, is a serious concern as it causes patients to experience symptoms such as shortness of breath and disturbed sleep. Uncontrolled asthma patients use more healthcare resources and because they overestimate their control and under-report their symptoms, it makes it difficult for doctors to assess asthma control correctly, he noted.

He said majority of asthma patients are under – diagnosed and those diagnosed are not receiving adequate management. Also, there is a general low level of awareness about the disease, especially its chronic nature and various strategies for its treatment. Giving insight into the financial implication of asthma treatment, Chukwu said in Nigeria today, the direct and indirect costs are often beyond the reach of the average asthma patient.

He revealed that an average asthmatic patient has to contend with the challenge of cost of chest x-ray, series of blood tests, hospitalisation all within the range of N30, 000 to N300, 000 depending on the severity of the attack and the health institution in question.

Lekan Asuni, MD, GSK announced that GSK is reducing the cost of its asthma medication by 34 percent which translates to between N3, 200 and N4, 100 against the initial price of N7, 000 per pack at any pharmacy outlet in the country.“This move is aimed at ensuring that a large number of patients can have access to its asthma medication at a more affordable price,” Asuni stated.