Generally considered a mild, manageable condition, the impact of asthma is greatly underestimated by many people across the globe. This has resulted in decades of lackadaisical approach to diagnosis and treatment.
The numbers highlight the disparity between perception and problem: over 300 million people are affected by asthma worldwide and, more strikingly, 346 000 people a year die from the condition.
These figures were presented by the 2015 Global Initiative for Asthma Report, a biennial review of the available literature on the condition conducted by the field’s leading academics and researchers.