Guidebook and campaign launched to protect breath

A new guidebook for asthma prevention and treatment was launched by health.people.cn and health experts who are aiming to improve the prevention and treatment of the disease by promoting long term standardized disease management.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease and only second to cancer in causing death or disability in the world.

The disease targets different age groups. About 45.7 million of the nation's population aged above 20 are asthma patients and the morbidity rate of children in China increased by 53 percent between 2000 to 2010.

In the urban region of the country, however, the disease control rate for adults is only 28.7 percent, while less than 40 percent for children.

The guidebook is a piece of popular science readings about the disease to help patients understand the prevention and treatment system as a long term process.

Guo Yanfei, physician of the respiratory and critical disease medicine department of Beijing Hospital, said asthma patients need long term treatment and disease control under the supervision of a physician despite the possibility that symptoms may ease from time to time.

There are two types of asthma drugs: easing drugs and controlling ones. According to Li Wen, physician of the respiratory disease department of the the Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine, effective treatment may control the disease clinically despite the fact that it can not be cured.

Retail pharmacies joined the campaign by pledging more efforts in popularizing the disease control at the community level.