Federal injection of funds is a “shot in the arm” to lung health

Health minister announces $10 million investment in lung health action plan

 
(Ottawa) – Canada’s fight against lung disease took a big step forward today as Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced a federal investment of $10 million towards the National Lung Health Framework – Canada’s first-ever action plan on lung health. 
 
 “Today’s funding means we can launch the action plan on lung health – a plan that will improve access to care, lower wait times and hospitalizations and reduce health care costs,” said Nora Sobolov, President and CEO of The Lung Association and Chair of the National Lung Health Framework Steering Committee, “Whether you are a parent of a child with asthma, an individual living with COPD or someone who has trouble breathing on smog days, the National Lung Health Framework is a prescription for better respiratory health that will help you breathe easier”.
 
“This investment is a shot in the arm to Canada’s respiratory health community,” said Dr. Peter Liu, Scientific Director of the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
 
Six million Canadians – one out of every five – suffer from asthma, COPD, lung cancer, tuberculosis, sleep apnea or some other respiratory disease. Canada has one of the highest rates of asthma in the world, including 16% among children aged 4 to 11 and 8.3% of Canadians 12 years of age or older. COPD affects 4.8 percent of women and 3.9 percent of men and affects close to twice as many people in Aboriginal communities than the general population. In addition, tuberculosis rates among Aboriginal peoples are more than 25 times higher than those of other people born in Canada.
 
“This is great news for everyone involved in respiratory health in Canada,”” said Dr. Gerard Cox, Past-President of the Canadian Thoracic Society and a respirologist at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health in Hamilton, “Over time, under the National Lung Health Framework, it is conceivable that Canadians will see a 50% reduction in emergency room visits for obstructive lung disease due mainly to the implementation of both patient action plans and health educator-led community care for patients with COPD and asthma, However, in order to get to that goal we need continued investment by both governments and health providers”.
 
"Canada needs more respirologists, more lung health research, complete implementation of existing disease guidelines such as pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD and better awareness about the effects of lung disease," said Chris Wigley of COPD Canada Patient Network and a member of the National Lung Health Framework Steering Committee, "The National Lung Health Framework is the first step to making these things happen!"
 

To tackle the rising incidence of lung disease in Canada, the National Lung Health Framework Action Plan will focus on four priority areas:
 
  • Health Promotion, Awareness and Disease Prevention – keeping Canadians healthy where they live, work and play through education, policy and health care reform and awareness building;
  • Disease Detection and Management – focusing on earlier detection of lung disease so Canadians, and their health care providers, can develop effective plans to treat, manage and cure incidence of lung disease so that individuals can enjoy the best quality of life;
  • Policy, Partnerships and Community/Systems Support – increasing dialogue among health care providers, policy makers and the general public, to ensure that best practices in respiratory health are replicated across the country while at the same time building the support structures necessary to help patients partner in managing their own health through respiratory self-management plans;
  • Knowledge Translation – more funding for innovative research into the causes and exacerbations of lung disease to help find better treatments and cures. The Plan will also emphasize a system of knowledge exchange to allow health practitioners to get the information they need to treat and manage patients properly.
 
Today’s announcement of $10 million in initial funding over three years will allow the National Lung Health Framework action plan to begin work immediately on some critical projects, including:
 
  • Improving Canadians’ awareness of prevention, early detection and self-management of lung diseases through public information products, with emphasis on high-risk populations such as children;
  • Developing tool kits to assist patients, families and caregivers in the prevention and management of respiratory disease;
  • Establishing a knowledge exchange hub (an electronic database) to provide Canadians and health care practitioners with access to the best options and programs designed to help in the management and treatment of respiratory disease;
  • Assessing and communicating risks to lung health associated with indoor air quality among on reserve First Nations and Inuit communities.
 
*For more details on projects to be funded under the $10 million investment, please refer to the attached backgrounder*
 
Since 2006, The Lung Association, the federal government, and respiratory health stakeholders nationwide have been working hard to build The National Lung Health Framework. The plan will improve the respiratory health of all people living in Canada through collaborative and equitable patient care, policy, programming, research and leadership. It is an action plan that recognizes the key link between the environment and lung health, and that will take steps to address both indoor and outdoor air quality issues. It should be noted that the National Lung Health Framework is the first health strategy in the world that tackles both environment and health and is the result of collaboration among dozens of organizations and hundreds of volunteers dedicated to reducing the burden of lung disease in Canada.
 
Established in 1900, The Canadian Lung Association is one of Canada’s oldest and most respected health charities, and the leading national organization for science-based information, research, education, support programs and advocacy on lung heath issues.