Asthma Society urges 282,000 people with uncontrolled asthma in Ireland to properly manage their asthma in 2019
New Year’s Day marks the launch of the Asthma Society’s new “Operation Asthma” campaign, which aims to help people with asthma to get their asthma under better control by Valentine’s Day 2019. The “Operation Asthma” campaign will help participants by providing them with daily asthma advice, resources and information in areas such as medication adherence, exercising, building an asthma support network, quitting smoking and diet.
The campaign will include daily affirmations, hints and tips from healthcare professionals and other people with asthma, infographics, videos and visuals – all designed to help people better understand and control their asthma, which can be a fatal condition if not managed properly.
The CEO of the Asthma Society of Ireland, Sarah O’Connor, said: “We’ve launched our “Operation Asthma” campaign to fully equip people with asthma with the information and resources necessary to better control their asthma in 2019. 470,000 people in Ireland have asthma and research shows that 282,000 of these do not have their asthma under control. Tragically this puts people at risk, as one person dies every week from asthma in Ireland and 90% of these deaths are preventable.”
“Over the next six weeks, we’ll be sharing information, advice and resources which will help people to take control of their asthma. By Valentine’s Day, we hope that people who have taken the programme will have learned to better control and accept their asthma which will allow them to live full lives, symptom-free. Living with a chronic condition can be challenging but we are here to support you with this campaign if you have asthma.
By February 14th, you can love your life, safely working around your asthma and enjoying many aspects of life which are out of reach when your asthma is not controlled.”
“Operation Asthma” aims to improve peoples’ lives by providing them with guidance on:
- Exercise and diet
- Quitting smoking and its positive impact on your asthma
- Getting support to manage your asthma – Asthma Society services and healthcare resources
- Knowing your asthma
- Building your asthma tribe – people who can support you
- Working with your healthcare professionals to better control your asthma
- Your immediate environment – know your triggers and minimise them
- Adherence to your asthma medication and Asthma Action Plan
Participants of “Operation Asthma” can go to asthma.ie or to the Asthma Society’s social media accounts for daily updates, guidance and advice from other people with asthma - all aiming to help people be in charge of Ireland’s most common chronic condition. The campaign will launch on 1st January and will continue until 14th February.
However, the Asthma Society plan to build an evergreen programme around this campaign, which we hope can assist healthcare professionals when someone is newly diagnosed or is finding it difficult to manage their asthma. The new Asthma Action Plan, recently launched with the National Clinical Programme for Asthma will play a key role in the campaign.
For further information on controlling asthma, the Asthma Society runs a free Asthma Adviceline which people can call for free on 1800 44 54 64 to speak to a specialist respiratory nurse about managing their asthma.
The Asthma Society would like to say thanks to all its members for all their support in 2018. If you would like to further support the Society’s work, please donate what you can on asthma.ie. All donations will be used to improve the lives of the 470,000 people with asthma in Ireland and to roll our supports which can transform the lives of people with asthma.
