Breathe Africa
Breathe Africa is a respiratory health program aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory ailments, particularly asthma, through the sharing of medical expertise and donation of medicines.
Breathe Africa’s objectives are threefold:
- improve asthma medical education for students at the university level as well as healthcare professionals working in clinics
- improve access to asthma diagnosis, treatment, and suitable medicines
- improve patient asthma education
The program was launched in July 2015 to improve asthma diagnosis, treatment and patient outcomes. Breathe Africa focuses on education of healthcare practitioners (HCPs) and increasing access to medical capacity building – a key focus of the Sandoz corporate responsibility strategy. It complements our purpose that focuses on pioneering novel approaches to help people around the world access high-quality medicine and to discover new ways to improve and extend people’s lives.
Breathe Africa demonstrates Sandoz’ ability to tackle specific access challenges and target specific health needs in underprivileged communities, increase access to medicine, medical information and medical capacity building.
- Asthma places a substantial burden on patients, families and the community1
- It causes respiratory symptoms, limitation of activity and flare ups that my require urgent health care1
- 14% of the world’s children experience asthma symptoms2
- 8.6% of young adults (aged 18-45) experience asthma symptoms2
- Asthma is the 14th most important disorder in the world in terms of the extent and duration of disability2
- GINA Pocket Guide 2016. http://ginasthma.org/2016-pocket-guide-for-asthma-management-and-prevention/ (Accessed June 2016);
- Global Asthma Report 2014: http://www.globalasthmareport.org/burden/burden.php (Accessed July 2015)