WHO Special Envoy José Luis Castro: Chronic Lung Diseases 🫁 Affect Around Half a Billion People, Yet Continue to Be Overlooked Chronic lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease #COPD and asthma, affect half a billion people worldwide, and COPD is the third leading cause of death. Nevertheless, these conditions receive less attention in national health policies than cardiovascular diseases and cancer, @JLCastroGarcia of the @WHO told the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Since 1 September 2024, Castro has served as the WHO Director-General’s Special Envoy for Chronic Respiratory Diseases (CRDs). On 25 September this year, José Luis Castro visited Poland to participate in a conference held at the Polish Parliament (Sejm) entitled “The Lungs of Poles: Challenges and Priorities for Public Health,” organized as part of the observance of #WorldLungDay. “People generally associate #lung diseases with infectious causes, such as tuberculosis. These diseases do indeed affect millions of people worldwide. But there are also chronic lung diseases, such as asthma and COPD, which affect half a billion people and cause four million deaths annually. Despite this, public awareness of these conditions remains significantly lower,” Castro told PAP. The expert recalled that chronic obstructive #pulmonary disease (COPD) is considered the third leading cause of death worldwide. Yet it is rarely the subject of media coverage. According to the International #Respiratory Coalition, citing data from the Global Burden of Disease 2023 study, more than 38 million people in the European region live with COPD. “When I took up my position at WHO in 2024, I reviewed articles and media reports about chronic lung diseases (...) and found one article published in The New York Times that mentioned COPD as the cause of death of Sinéad O’Connor [the Irish singer-songwriter],” Castro recalled. He emphasized that the disease had received coverage only because it affected a celebrity. In his view, one of the problems surrounding COPD is that it continues to be mistakenly perceived as a disease affecting only older people and smokers, contributing to the stigmatization of patients. “COPD does not affect only older people or smokers. It also affects people who have never smoked, and the factors that predispose someone to develop the disease may arise very early in life. Air pollution, exposure to harmful substances in the workplace, and factors affecting lung development all contribute to the disease,” the specialist explained. He emphasized that everyone living with COPD deserves a timely diagnosis, effective #treatment, and care free from stigma. Full piece at naukawpolsce.pl/aktualnosci/…