“I think for the first time in the large epidiemological study, we will be looking to see, firstly, what is the severity of asthma and also attitudes towards the disease and want to use the understanding of these disease with asthma, when are they not using it on or are there any barriers to the reasons by not using treatment and and fully looking at exposures whether in-door pollution or out-door pollution which may have an impact on Asthma,” says the university’s Professor Refiloe Masekela.
Meanwhile, Professor Jonathan Grigg, from the Queen Mary University of London, says deaths due to asthma related diseases in South Africa, are on the increase. “Overall we are talking about the prevalence of around 10 percent to 12% globally but obviously some countries have higher levels, in UK fro example, we have the highest level of asthma and we have death in Africa. But many countries are catching up, in South Africa we really concerned about the number of deaths from Asthma that we see and prevalence increase significantly on the last five years.”