World Asthma Day 2025: Asthma is a serious lung disease that can pose a threat to people of almost all ages. In asthma, patients start having problems with inflammation and muscle stiffness around the airways, making it difficult to breathe. Every year in May, people celebrate World Asthma Day to raise awareness about this disease reported globally.
The purpose of this day is to spread awareness about respiratory disease like asthma, recognize its symptoms, get timely treatment and remove misconceptions related to asthma.
History of World Asthma Day
The celebration of World Asthma Day was started in 1988 by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). The first Asthma Day was organized by the World Health Organization in collaboration with GINA in Barcelona, Spain. For the first time, more than 35 countries of the world participated in asthma. The main objective of celebrating this day was to give a normal life to asthma patients by removing misconceptions about asthma among the people.
Since then, World Asthma Day (World Asthma Day 2025) is celebrated every year on the first Tuesday of May. This special day unites health institutions, doctors, patients and society globally to better understand asthma and control it through lifestyle.
Importance of World Asthma Day
Experts consider asthma to be the most common chronic disease in children and adults worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other governing authorities consider asthma to be both a factor and effect of poverty in low- and middle-income countries. According to the WHO, reports indicate that 262 million people worldwide suffered from asthma in 2019, and the mortality rate (death) is 4.55 lakhs.
According to the Global Burden of Disease Report (GBDR) 2019, India holds the highest and rising burden of asthma in the world in terms of deaths and disability-adjusted life years, with reports indicating that over 34 million people live with asthma despite India accounting for only 13% of the global asthma population and 42% of global asthma mortality.
Action for the Prevention and Control
The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the World Health Organization’s Global Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases recognize asthma as a priority, and they implement various strategies to enhance the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of asthma. People with asthma in India suffer a disproportionate burden of daily symptoms, negative impacts on quality of life, and absenteeism from school and work.
In addition, researchers from India, New York City, Spain, Turkey, and Bahrain found a lack of understanding and practice in childhood asthma care and concluded that training programs are necessary to increase understanding of children’s needs and reduce student absenteeism from school.
This year’s standard goals include:
- Ensure universal access to inhaled treatments
- Reduce preventable morbidity and mortality
- Increase awareness and education
- Promote health equity
- Advocate for policy change
- Empower patients and communities
World Asthma Day 2025 Theme
GINA, an international organization working for asthma, releases a special theme for Asthma Day every year. The theme of Asthma Day 2025 is “Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL”. The purpose of this theme is to make respiratory medicines easily accessible to all people.
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