What is the ADF?

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The Union is working with partners, such as the WHO, to create a new mechanism – the Asthma Drug Facility – that will provide access to affordable good quality essential asthma drugs.

Asthma - on the global agenda for improved health and reduction of poverty?

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. It is estimated that about 300 million people worldwide currently suffer from asthma. Asthma kills about 200 thousand people every year. Although asthma cannot be cured, it can be treated and managed effectively. The severity of asthma can be reduced dramatically. A person’s quality of life can be significantly improved. Asthma has been identified as a major global public health problem and international guidelines exist. However, in the developing world, where the majority of the world’s asthmatics live, almost all cases of asthma go undiagnosed, untreated or mistreated. By causing unnecessary disability and expense, asthma is significantly increasing the poverty of individuals and countries. People with asthma are less able to work or look after their families. Children with asthma are likely to miss much of their primary education. Emergency visits, hospitalisation and inappropriate treatments are a huge financial drain on struggling health systems.

Access - who has access to essential asthma medicines?

The World Health Organization’s essential medicine list includes low-cost inhaled high-dose corticosteroids (e.g. beclamethasone) and bronchodilators (eg. salbutamol). A standardised asthma management programme using these drugs has been clearly demonstrated as cost-effective. So why aren’t all countries benefiting from the essential asthma drugs they need to implement the international guidelines? The main barrier is access – poor availability and affordability of these drugs. For example, beclamethasone has simply not been made available in many developing countries. In those developing countries where it has been available, its price is unnecessarily high. Neither health services nor patients can afford it.

The Asthma Drug Facility - How will the ADF work?

The ADF aims to be an efficient, independent, transparent, sustainable mechanism that:

• pools requests from qualifying programmes to obtain the lowest possible prices for good quality essential asthma drugs
• uses competitive processes to keep prices as low as possible
• ensures only products of known good quality are supplied
• provides technical assistance.

What will the ADF achieve? It will:

• make essential asthma drugs available and affordable for people in developing countries on a sustainable basis
• improve the standardisation of treatment regimens
• assist countries to develop effective asthma management programmes
• reduce unnecessary expense caused by emergency visits, hospitalisation, and ineffective, inappropriate drugs
• improve the quality of life of children and adults with asthma
• improve the ability of health systems to respond adequately to respiratory health in general
• provide the asthma drugs that are crucial for implementation of the Practical Approach to Lung health (PAL)
• help gain more accurate global estimates about the epidemiological and financial burden of asthma
• increase commitment of governments and donors to investing in asthma as a means of reducing poverty
• reinforce international efforts for universal access to all essential medicines

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