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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Health / ERHABOR: On How To Manage Increasing Cases Of Chest Diseases (1) (598 Views)
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ERHABOR: On How To Manage Increasing Cases Of Chest Diseases (1) by wisolo(m): 8:02pm On Jul 19, 2015 |
Gregory Erhabor is the founder and Project
Coordinator, Asthma and Chest Care Foundation;
Consultant Chest Physician and immediate past
President of Nigerian Thoracic Society and
professor of Medicine, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. He spoke to
PAUL ADUNWOKE on management of chest
diseases and asthmatic patients.
Why your interest in thoracic/chest medicine?
THERE is increasing pollution in the country and
many have taken to smoking, thus manifesting
chest diseases like chronic obstructive lung
disease, occupational lung diseases and
worsening cases of asthma.
Moreover, a disease like tuberculosis is one of
the leading infectious diseases in the world and
Nigeria is one of the high burden countries. It’s
rather unfortunate that a number of politicians,
men of God, commissioners and big men in this
country have died of Asthma, lung cancer and
other chest diseases, yet only a few is aware
that these diseases can be prevented and
properly managed.
That is why Asthma and Chest Care Foundation
(ACCF) was established to provide patient care,
education, pursue research, train health
professionals and offer philanthropic programmes
for patients with asthma – free distribution of
asthma drugs and information materials – in
order to ensure that no life is lost as a result of
asthma or other chest conditions again in
Nigeria.
We encourage all patients and individuals
with cough of more than two to three weeks,
sputum production, haemoptysis (coughing out of
blood), chest wall pain, noisy breathing,
breathlessness, frequent colds, loss of weight,
loss of appetite, fever and night sweats to report
to the nearest health facility for necessary tests.
Let’s take a look at the statistics: about 10 to 15
million Nigerians are suffering from asthma. In
our study among University undergraduates
between the ages of 15 – 35yrs in Southwestern
Nigeria, we reported a prevalence of 18.7 per
cent. Again, 14.1per cent of the respondents had
probable asthma while another 4.3per cent had
suspected asthma totaling 18.7 per cent.
A number of them, living with the condition have
not been diagnosed and many remain untreated.
In the past, asthma was seen as a disability but
today, with proper treatment and preventive
measures, asthma can be controlled. Hence, the
awareness by the foundation aims at educating
and ensuring that patients are free from asthma.
By doing this, the number of asthmatic patients
presenting with life threatening symptoms will
reduce and patients will be properly diagnosed.
I have other programmes on heart and lungs-
related diseases but what inspired me for the
asthma prevention and management initiative is
the fact that people always talk about treatment
and cure for diseases but nobody talks about
prevention.
Again, there are few places around, where one
can get proper treatment. I believe it’s much
easier to prevent diseases than to cure them. So,
my focus had been on possible ways of stopping
the disease; finding better ways to help patients
in this fight for breath. Topmost on my mind is a
question like ‘how can I ensure they lived a
better life?’
As a response to this, I resorted to educating
asthmatic patients and those with other chest
conditions, like Tuberculosis, lung cancer and
pneumonia among others. And to achieve these,
I embarked on advocacy and organising training
for medical doctors so as to ensure that those
with chest and lungs-related diseases have what
it takes to live a healthy life.
We partner with other organisations, NGOs and
other institutions to help achieve these goals.
They include; American College of Chest
Physicians, American Thoracic Society, Breathe
Easy Foundation, UK
etc.
How severe can asthma attack be and how does
chest medicine handle the challenges?
Severe attacks are common causes of death
from Asthma and one of the major problems is
that asthmatic patients are unable to recognise
the seriousness of these attacks. However, a
number of pointers could help in determining
whether or not, an attack is severe.
If these pointers were well understood and
monitored by asthmatic patients, a drastic
decrease in mortality rates would be recorded.
They need to watch out, for an increased
frequency in night attacks, that is, waking up
more than once at night because of wheeze,
cough or difficulty in breathing.
Again, asthma attack presents increasing
limitation in day-to-day activities such as,
climbing stairs, cooking and other household
chores is noticed. Another pointer is increased
dependence on bronchodilators – drugs that
opens the airways. For instance, using inhaler,
between four and six times a day is a sign of a
severe attack.
Other things to watch out for are fever,
infections of the throat, sinuses and lungs; all of
which may trigger a severe attack. Deterioration
of peak flow reading and bluish appearance of
the tongue, lips and fingertips are also to be
observed. 1 Like |
Re: ERHABOR: On How To Manage Increasing Cases Of Chest Diseases (1) by Lilyomi(f): 8:53pm On Jul 19, 2015 |
Educative. |
(1) (Reply)
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