Extract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the world and it is thought that one in 10 of the adult global population have the disease [1]. Despite this, COPD has not received the level of attention it requires by Ministries of Health and health services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), where most of the people with this disease live and where there is limited access to spirometry to confirm the diagnosis, little effective therapy and minimal public health policy on prevention. In 2012 the World Health Assembly endorsed the “25 by 25 goal”, focusing on reducing premature deaths from noncommunicable disease (NCDs) by 25% by the year 2025 [2], but while the third United Nations (UN) high-level meeting on NCDs in September 2018 acknowledged that “action to realize the commitments made for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases is inadequate” many felt the political declaration lacked ambition and was a missed opportunity to address the global NCD epidemic. As COPD is a highly prevalent NCD, is the third most common cause of premature death and is highly preventable we, the Board of Directors of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), are especially concerned that the disease has not been taken seriously enough by the UN/World Health Organization (WHO): not enough is being done to address the increasing prevalence, morbidity and mortality caused by COPD and there is no coordinated strategy to encourage countries to prioritise and resource its prevention and management.
Abstract
We must work together to prevent the development of COPD by reducing exposure to risk factors, to ensure the diagnosis is made as early as possible and to ensure all patients around the world receive effective therapy http://bit.ly/2WDUPMp
Footnotes
Author contribution: All authors meet criteria for authorship as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, contributed to the writing and reviewing of the manuscript, and have given final approval for the version to be published. D.M.G. Halpin, B.R. Celli, G.J. Criner, P. Frith, M.V. López Varela, S. Salvi, C.F. Vogelmeier, R. Chen,, R. Decker and A. Agusti are members of the Board of Directors of GOLD. K. Mortimer, M. Montes de Oca, Z. Aisanov and D. Obaseki contributed to the Summit.
Conflict of interest: D.M.G. Halpin reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, and personal fees and non-financial support from Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: B.R. Celli reports grants and other from Astra Zeneca (research site), personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline (consulting and scientific committee), and personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis and Menarini (all for consulting), outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: G.J. Criner has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: P. Frith reports personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Menarini and Novartis (travel compensation and speaker fees), non-financial support from Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (travel reimbursement for Board meetings), and non-financial support from Lung Foundation Australia (travel support to Board meetings), outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: M.V. López Varela has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: S. Salvi has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: C.F. Vogelmeier reports personal fees from Almirall, Cipla, Berlin Chemie/Menarini, CSL Behring, and Teva; grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols, Mundipharma, Novartis, and Takeda; grants from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Competence Network Asthma and COPD (ASCONET), Bayer Schering Pharma AG, MSD, and Pfizer, all outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: R. Chen reports grants and personal fees from GSK, Astra-Zeneca and Boehringer-Ingelheim, and personal fees from Novartis, during the conduct of the study.
Conflict of interest: K. Mortimer reports personal fees from the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: M. Montes de Oca has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Z. Aisanov has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: D. Obaseki has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: R. Decker has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: A. Agusti reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Chiesi and Nuvaira, and grants and personal fees from Menarini and GSK, outside the submitted work.
- Received May 7, 2019.
- Accepted May 22, 2019.
- Copyright ©ERS 2019