Prof. Dr. Md. Ali Hossain, Secretary General, Bangladesh Lung Foundation (BLF)
There lies a noble reason behind observing the world lung day, which is working together to curb lung complications. Quite a few lung diseases are preventable – an issue, which needs to be addressed. You know around 65 million people around the world are suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), of which around 3 million die every year. Ten million people get affected by Tuberculosis every year, of which around 1.5 million die every year. There are pneumonia and other lung diseases as well. Among others, those who are suffering from lung complications have the air pollution to blame. We undertook two surveys on lung disease patients – one in1999 and another in 2010. The ten-year span marked almost two-fold rise in the number of patients. Urbanization is one of the burning reasons behind this rise. From this platform, we have to promise we would raise awareness about the ways lung diseases can be prevented, and convey the message to people instead of limiting it to this discussion only.
Ref. THE DAILY STAR