According to the WHO, asthma has affected approximately 262 million people in 2019, and during the same year, it has also claimed 461,000 lives. Asthma can be deadly and overusing the prescribed inhalers to treat the illness can be as deadly.
According to the Oxford dictionary, asthma is a long-term condition that affects your airways. The tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. Most of the time asthma is triggered by certain substances that irritate your airways as a human, causing breathing difficulties which leads to symptoms such as chest tightness, wheezing, or coughing.
Mongezi Mathebula from extension 19 is struggling with asthma and he was told that the most common misconception is that all asthma illnesses are the same. People with asthma intuitively understand that there are many different types of asthma illnesses.
“Despite this, treatment options have remained broadly the same for decades, primarily inhalation steroids. This is what I have been told and it is believed that up to 50 percent of people respond poorly to steroids. Another misconception is the view that asthma is not a life threatening condition. In fact, asthma continues to kill thousands of people every year globally. I come from an asthmatic family and most of them have passed on, therefore asthma should be taken seriously. According to google steroids are the main treatment for people with asthma and they have been for many years. However, treatment for the people who are not responding well to steroids is needed,” explains Mongezi.
Mongezi shares that over the past year, the ongoing Covid-19 airborne virus has been at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds and asthma has been severely neglected and this has left family members wondering whether they will survive the virus while dealing with asthmatic people at home.
“People living with the asthma condition should look after themselves and learn more about the different types of asthma illnesses,” concludes Mongezi.
By Zoleka Batsha