Asthma Right Care update: March 2024
As the Asthma Right Care movement continues to develop and expand, we are pleased to share the latest updates from our country members after our most recent quarterly delivery team meeting in March 2024. Check our Asthma Right Care news feed for previous updates.
Argentina
Our Argentinian team is hard at work developing and expanding its Teach the Teacher programme to Tiers 2 and 3, targeting new regions.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh Primary Care Respiratory Society (BPCRS) has hosted several public events, introducing Asthma Right Care to the Pirojpur branch of the Bangladesh Medical Association and leading a scientific seminar and policy dialogue with the Pirojpur Press Club attended by doctors, administrators and policymakers. These efforts secured a pledge from the region's chief health administrator to provide increased logistical support for the expansion of Asthma Right Care. At the Bangladesh Lung Foundation's AGM, an IPCRG-initiated resolution to integrate primary care professionals into the development of Asthma Right Care was adopted and the team will work with the University of Singapore to train primary care. The team is currently working on a health and demographic surveillance system for the region.
Brazil
GEPRAPS is working towards World Asthma Day, and has recorded a series of videos of health care professionals and patient representatives highlighting the statements in our 'What does good quality asthma care look like?', with a view towards the development and presentation of a manifesto to policymakers. The team has completed its Tier 3 Teach the Teacher programme, and is looking forward to a meeting with those involved in June to evaluate progress.
Kyrgyzstan
Our Kyrgyz colleagues have established a national Delivery Team for Asthma Right Care which is currently translating and adapting IPCRG materials and is also developing a new tool for patients to support the assessment of and prescription for asthma symptoms. A Teach the Teacher programme is in development with an expected launch in April.
Malaysia
Our team in Malaysia has initiated a quality improvement series Malaysia to improve asthma care by training all members of the team - including doctors, nurses and paramedics on asthma, because people with asthma exacerbations often attend primary care as the nearest urgent care facility.
North Macedonia
The North Macedonian team is rolling out Teach the Teacher with 13 workshops scheduled between mid-March and early May for GPs and pharmacists.
Norway
Our Norwegian team is developing its programme for health secretaries who can play an important role in conducting annual asthma reviews, performing spirometry and helping patients improve their inhaler technique. Following a design charrette that reviewed Asthma Right Care materials, a Teach the Teacher programme is underway, with Tier 2 expected to begin in April.
Panama
Colleagues in Panama have just run the first of a series of events for Tier 3 of Asthma Right Care Teach the Teacher with a good turnout of primary care doctors from eastern Panama. The participants were supportive of the initiative and have committed to implementing the necessary changes to improve asthma management.
Portugal
Led by GRESP, action in Portugal is concentrated on steps 2 and 3 of our statements about management, utilising IPCRG tools. Colleagues are now starting to engage with stakeholders working with children, such as working with Scouts to discuss 'myths and truths' to raise awareness of asthma and launching a programme in schools supported by the Ministry of Education. Walks with asthma are planned during May in support of World Asthma Day. Plans are afoot to work with bus networks to spread key messages about Asthma Right Care. One minute videos for busy clinicians and wordless videos that are accessible to all have been produced and are now being distributed by the GRESP team.
Slovenia
Our Slovenian colleagues updated on a new research project: a cross-sectional study collecting data on GP visits to estimate how many visits are related to asthma and to characterise who attends and determine common comorbidities.
Spain
Teach the Teacher is spreading across Spain, with only one region pending to complete Tier 3 of Teach the Teacher for Pharmacists - Tier 4 is coming soon! An online course is being developed to scale up skills using Asthma Right Care, and a new programme is being developed for children - meeting and mapping scout teams and studying community initiatives, influenced by the BreathChamps project in the UK. Finally, the national meeting is being planned.
Tunisia
After their 2023 launch of the SOAP Project (SABA Overuse Awareness in Pharmacies), our colleagues in Tunisia have now produced an educational video and are producing translations of the Reliever Reliance Test and Slide Rule. Meanwhile, they are assessing satisfaction with their asthma and allergy lexicon.
We are inspired by the hard work of our national teams in devising and delivering new initiatives to spread Asthma Right Care and look forward to future updates in mid-2024.
Several will be showcasing their work in the Athens World Conference - so sign up to hear from them in person!
Taipei, Taiwan
Five IPCRG Tier 1 Teaching Faculty ran a Teach the Teacher Tier 1 meeting in March working with colleagues from Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. We will share further updates as the national teams develop their plans for Tier 2 when they recruit and teach national teachers who will then be equipped with the skills and curriculum to reach the frontline in Tier 3.