Silent Breath Crisis: Respiratory Diseases Tighten Their Grip On Africa
By Princess-Ekwi Ajide
Every breath should come naturally, yet for millions across Africa, it is becoming an exhausting struggle.
Chronic respiratory diseases are quietly emerging as one of the world’s most pressing health challenges, affecting an estimated 3.5 million people every year and placing immense strain on families and health systems.
To confront this growing crisis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Pace University Centre for Global Health organised a specialised media training in South Africa for health journalists drawn from selected media organisations across Africa.
The initiative aimed to deepen journalists’ understanding of respiratory diseases while expanding their access to global experts, to strengthendriveing and driving public awareness around asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Health experts say respiratory diseases are largely driven by air pollution, tobacco use, and hazardous workplace exposures, factors that continue to threaten populations across the continent.
Conditions such as asthma and other lung-related illnesses affect people of all ages and impose a heavy burden on families, healthcare systems and national economies, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria.
Despite the scale of the challenge, experts warn that weak policies, poor regulation and limited access to essential medicines have allowed respiratory diseases to remain largely invisible within both global and national health priorities.
Beyond the medical impact, the economic and social consequences are equally severe. People living with persistent cough, breathlessness and fatigue often struggle to remain productive.
Children may miss school, while older adults may become increasingly dependent on family members and healthcare systems, placing additional pressure on already stretched resources.
However, health specialists believe the burden can be reduced through stronger policy action and collective efforts.
They advocate stricter enforcement of environmental regulations, reduction of tobacco use, improved workplace safety, and expanded access to essential medicines as critical steps toward tackling the crisis.
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