The President of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of West Africa (AAFWA) has called on the public to be more responsive to the plight of asthma patients.
Sheku Wai was speaking in an exclusive with the Point Newspaper last Thursday at his office in Latrikunda Sabiji.
AAFWA serves as a platform for people with asthma and allergies to network and work for their collective interest as well as offer voluntary medical services to people with asthma and allergies to stay healthy, productive and self-reliant within the society. Globally, May is recognized as World Asthma Month, with the first Tuesday of May as World Asthma Day.
"AAFWA had wanted to mobilize asthma and allergy patients in The Gambia to join the rest of the World in observing the event in an elaborate manner, but unfortunately was unable to do so due to financial constraints."
World Asthma Day and Month, he added, focuses on educating the public about the most effective ways of controlling and treating asthma.
"We wanted to observe the 2023 Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month in The Gambia with series of activities among them an Asthma and Allergy Solidarity March, Asthma Education Seminar on World Asthma Day proper, a health fair to conduct lung function tests for people throughout the month of May, the tests may include Spirometry; Peak Flow; Methacholine Challenge, Imaging Tests, Allergy Testing; Nitric Oxide Test etc. amongst others."
The AAFWA prexy further expressed gratitude to the ministry of Health for collaborating with his Foundation in principle since 2021, saying the collaboration has been a morale booster for asthma patients in the country even though they are yet to secure funding from within or outside The Gambia.
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"We educate asthma patients on how to treat and control asthma, for example, on what to do if they have an attack while not having an inhaler with them at that point in time and work to ensure that medication and medical equipment like inhalers and nebulizers are readily available to people with asthma. We also plan to identify, plan and manage community projects aimed at promoting quality of life and the socio-economic welfare of people with asthma and allergies, ensure a better indoor environment devoid of pollution in schools and workplaces, as well as raise awareness about important allergy-friendly features."
Wai further assured that the Foundation would regularly update data on the true prevalence of asthma in The Gambia to keep government aware of the implications of this increasing disease burden and to investigate the relative importance of underlying risk factors such as rising urbanisation in their policy and health planning responses to this challenge.
