Phillip Mwebaza
UGANDA – According to research conducted by the Makerere University Lung Institute, two out of every ten young people between the ages of 12 and 15 exhibit symptoms of asthma, a respiratory health condition that usually shows symptoms including coughing, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing.
Since 2018, the institution has examined 895 secondary school students within Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono districts. Of those, 177 were found to have asthmatic symptoms.
Dr. Rebecca Nantanda, a consultant pediatrician and lung specialist who oversaw the study’s execution, said that the majority of people who tested positive for asthma were ignorant despite exhibiting symptoms in 33.9% of cases.
64 of the students exhibited significant symptoms, but none of their assessments were correct, and several of them were receiving care for other conditions.
The institute had previously analyzed children and adults to discover how prevalent the illness was, but data on youths had been lacking.
According to recent data, merely less than half of persons in this age range who were aware of their condition had it under control, with few episodes and a reduced need for treatment.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) was informed of these findings, and officials confirmed that medical professionals lacked sufficient training mostly in asthmatic diagnosis.
Asthma diagnosis is still done by health professionals using what they learned in medical school, according to Dr. Frank Mugabe, the Principal Medical Officer in charge of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) at the Ministry of Health. This is true despite evolving methods of diagnosis and treatment.
In agreement with the survey’s findings, he claims that more people are developing asthma, as evidenced by the fact that over 100,000 new cases have been reported annually for the past three years, according to their statistics.
He states that they registered 133,000 instances in 2020 and 124,000 in 2021 as a result of COVID-19-related limitations. He asserts that as of the end of October this year, there had been 106,000 instances reported, and he anticipates that they may top the numbers from the year 2020.
All age groups had the greatest prevalence of asthma in Kampala, West Nile, and South Western Uganda. Mugabe explains this by pointing to significant levels of air pollution.
Five more nations, including Malawi, South Africa, Ghana, and Zimbabwe, participated in the same research, Achieving Control of Asthma in Children in Africa (ACACIA).