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Asthma and COPD

  

Lung Diseases and the behaviors that cause them have a staggering effect on people all over the world.

  • Asthma affects an estimated 300 million adults and children worldwide.*
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects more than 200 million people worldwide.**
  • COPD will become the third leading cause of death by 2030.**
  • Tobacco use, air pollution, and dusts and chemicals inhaled on the job are the primary risk factors for COPD.**
  • Every year, almost 400,000 people die from diseases related to tobacco use in the U.S.***
  • Another 50,000 die from exposure to secondhand smoke in the United States.***
  • Of everyone alive in the world today, an estimated 500 million will eventually be killed by tobacco.****

* Global Initiative for Asthma, GINA Report, Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention, 2008.
** World Health Organization, “Living with chronic lung diseases,” http://www.who.int/features/2007/copd/en/index.html, 2009.
*** The American Lung Association, “Stop Smoking,” http://www.lungusa.org/stop-smoking/, 2009.
**** World Health Organization, The Tobacco Atlas, 2002.

Despite the widespread negative impact of these numbers, many people struggle to make the behavior changes that can help to prevent and manage chronic lung diseases. And these behavior changes can be especially difficult for people with long-held smoking habits and tobacco addiction.

What a Conversation Map® Program Can Do

Better management of asthma and COPD begins with effective engagement. By providing relevant health information and encouraging people to put that information to work in their everyday lives, the Respiratory Health Conversation Map program can help people to achieve Personal Health Engagement® and make behavior changes that can improve chronic respiratory conditions.

The Respiratory Health Conversation Map program is currently being developed to help people at any age and from any walk of life productively address:

  • Asthma
  • COPD
  • Smoking cessation