Manifesto to Improve Lives of COPD Patients

In Europe, 19 patient associations have formed the European Network of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients' Association (ENCPA) to launch the first patient manifesto outlining the rights of COPD patients and challenging healthcare professionals to improve their lives. The manifesto was announced on November 20, 2002, to coincide with World COPD Day.

COPD is Europe's fifth largest killer, says ENCPA, and its prevalence is projected to rise. Despite this, recognition and diagnosis of the disease are low. An estimated 75% of people in Europe with COPD are unaware they have the disease.

A key point of the manifesto is the need to improve prevention strategies that outline the key risk factors for COPD: tobacco smoke and occupational exposure to dusts and air pollution. Early diagnosis is also seen as a critical factor, to ensure that effective treatment strategies can be started at the early stages of the disease and help slow the decline in quality of life.

"Our manifesto clearly sets out our demands to European policy makers and healthcare professionals to make a change. COPD is reaching epidemic proportions, so we must work together to ensure that predicted increases in the personal and economic burden never become reality,” said Erkka Valovirta, president of the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA), which includes ENCPA and represents more than 100 million allergy, asthma, and COPD patients in Europe.




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