ICONIC 2014, the first conference focusing on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in India, was recently held in Pune. Keshav Desiraju, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India inaugurated the conference focusing on COPD in India. ‘India needs a National COPD Prevention and Control Programme’ was discussed at the conference. The conference which had 18 overseas faculty and 15 national speakers was jointly hosted by Chest Research Foundation (CRF) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, US. It was endorsed by various leading international institutions such as Indian Chest Society, American Thoracic Society, European Respiratory Society and others.
Speaking at ICONIC 2014, Dr Sundeep Salvi, Director, Chest Research Foundation said, “ICONIC brings together experts across the healthcare industry including physicians, public health policy makers and researchers to bridge gaps in the field of COPD prevention, control and management in India. It is an opportunity to share the latest developments in COPD research both from the US and India, which they can use it to treat their patients better.”
Dr Shyam Biswal, Department of Environmental Health Science, John Hopkins School of Public Health, US, said, “ICONIC serves as a great platform for young researchers and physicians to showcase their research work and receive constructive feedback from the leading experts in the world. It will also help them to polish and shape their research studies so that they can derive meaningful and qualitative data that will benefit the world. Further, it also creates opportunities for doctors in US and India to come together to form collaborations for exchange of knowledge which will help to combat the COPD epidemic.”
According to the experts, COPD is among the top three death causing health conditions in India. Despite this finding, COPD is not considered as harmful as AIDS or diabetes.
In a country like India, the financial condition of a patient has always remained an issue while deciding the mode of treatment. However, in case of COPD, there is more to worry about than just the ability of the patient to spend on the treatment. Doctors believe that the stigma associated with COPD is perhaps preventing many victims of it from approaching the doctor or sharing their health worries with family or friends.
Ignorance about COPD is also contributing to rising number of such patients. Salvi, informs, “Even policy makers and researchers are not well informed about COPD.”
Dr Robert Wise, Professor of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, “COPD is a hidden disease in India. COPD is perhaps one of the easiest diseases to diagnose, years before it becomes symptomatic.”
Desiraju stated that traditional ways of cooking food in rural India should be changed. According to him, women and young girls are affected more due to working on chullas and unfortunately they do not understand the harmful effects of such kind of cooking methods.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai
