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Tackling wheezing among children is a challenge

A healthcare campaign launched two months ago in Bangalore is aimed at preventing the disease

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Bangalore is the leading asthma metropolitan in India with an estimated 17,000 new cases of childhood asthma being diagnosed every year. About 70% asthma cases are found in children between two and eight years of age, one of the main causes for school absenteeism.

To tackle the problem of asthma in the city, AddressHealth Solutions India Pvt Ltd, a healthcare venture, launched ‘The know more wheeze campaign’ two months ago.

“As part of the campaign, we are carrying out an accreditation programme for schools called Asthma Absent which includes a teacher training programme, an asthma predictive screening programme for children, a school environment audit and a school nurse training programme. We plan to reach out to 20 schools in south Bangalore over the next few months and to all schools in the city by 2012,” said Dr Anand Lakshman, director, AddressHealth and a public health consultant.

Over the next few months, the campaign will reach out to over five lakh people through awareness events in apartments, parks, pharmacies and shopping malls about the problem of asthma and wheeze, and the solutions on hand to control the problem.
“Currently, 25.5% of the population below 18 years of age are affected by asthma. The unfortunate part is that compared to 10 years ago, the severity of asthma has increased now,” said Dr H Paramesh, pulmonologist and director, Lakeside Hospital. “Selection of inhalers for the children is a difficult task as they cannot be exposed to strong steroids. Generally, height of the child gets affected by strong steroid usage for a long time,” he said.
A number of factors contributing to high level of asthma among children include exposure of mother to tobacco smoking either actively or passively during pregnancy, inhalation of dust mites, and change in the food habits from traditional to western, said
Dr Paramesh. Therefore, an asthma screening programme in schools can be of help in early detection and tackling the disease, he said.     m_soumita@dnaindia.net

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