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Leading healthcare company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pharmaceuticals Nigeria Limited, is partnering with medical practitioners to tackle asthma in the country. To this end, a research effort, National Asthma Insight and Reality (AIR) Study, had been commissioned.
The move, according to the pharmaceutical firm, is to determine the prevalence, severity as well as the level of control and management of the scourge nationwide.At the contract-signing ceremony in Lagos, a consultant pulmonologist with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr. Obianuju Ozeh, described the menace as very burdensome across the federation.
Her words: “The number of persons with asthma in Nigeria has increased overtime. It was described as rare in the early 70s but now, about 10 per cent of Nigerians are estimated to have the ailment.”
On the study, Ozeh, who is the lead researcher, noted that the 10-person team would sample 5,000 households in five cities across five geo-political zones with a view to finding out from patients their level of control as well as associated risk factors.The Managing Director of the pharmaceutical company, Bhushan Akshikar, further pledged his organisation’s support for initiatives geared at saving lives.
“The AIR Study is an innovation we are proud to support. Our focus is to create value by researching and manufacturing innovative products, making them accessible as possible to countries at all levels of income and development,” he added.
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