Chronic Respiratory Diseases are Also Global Health Priority

On this historic day when the 78 World Health Assembly adopted the Pandemic Agreement that aims to make the world more equitable and safer from future pandemics, we are reassured that the World Health Assembly remains the key body where the world sets its health priorities. When the world acts together, even the most formidable threats can be overcome.

This week also the World Health Assembly is considering the adoption of a resolution on lung health. This is important. We need the same level of shared resolve, specially now, to make sure that the lungs get the attention of the world at this crucial moment.

For all the talk of global health equity, the lungs are still waiting to exhale...

Why have chronic respiratory diseases historically received less global attention, and what must change?

Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are among the world’s leading causes of death, yet they remain underfunded, underdiagnosed, and politically sidelined. Why? Because breathlessness doesn't make headlines. Unlike heart attacks or diabetes, CRDs suffer from a quieter crisis—burdened by stigma, low visibility, and the false belief that they are somehow less urgent. Breathlessness gets overlooked.

But this moment is an opportunity. A pivot point. And what follows is a discussion on how to break it. This piece outlines what must come next: smarter investments, systemic integration, stronger accountability, and the kind of cross-sector collaboration that actually delivers results. To shift this narrative and restore balance to global non communicable disease (NCD) priorities, we need a new playbook that we can sum up in 3 high-level phased:

1. Make Noise, Not Whispers - Elevate CRDs in public discourse and global health data. Awareness campaigns, local research, and visible patient voices are crucial.

2. Bake It into the System - CRDs must be integrated into primary care and universal health coverage, not treated as a specialist outlier.

3. Scale Solidarity - Join forces across borders through initiatives like the World Health Organization's convened Global Alliance against Respiratory Diseases (GARD), and embed CRDs in every NCD summit and funding round.

If we can’t prioritise the ability to breathe, what are we even fighting for?

The Three Investments That Could Transform CRD Management

CRD care and management deliver enormous returns—reducing hospital admissions, safeguarding productivity, and reinforcing the very foundation of universal health coverage. Yet, year after year, it remains chronically underfunded. To close the gap, the WHO highlights three high-impact investment areas:

1. Strengthen the Frontline - Equip primary care with tools for early detection and sustained treatment, including reliable access to affordable inhaled bronchodilators and corticosteroids.

2. Secure Oxygen for All - COVID-19 exposed the global shortfall in oxygen infrastructure. Now is the moment to fund oxygen as an essential health service, not an emergency fix.

3. Allocate NCD Budgets - Governments must allocate CRD-specific funding in national NCD budgets, backed by innovative models like health taxes, insurance schemes, and public private partnerships (PPS).

This is what smart public health looks like: investing in the systems that help people breathe, live, and thrive.

Addressing the Root Causes of CRDs: What Policymakers Can—and Must—Do

Air pollution. Tobacco. Hazardous workplaces. Together, these are the invisible hands choking global lung health. But policymakers aren’t powerless. They hold the levers to systemic change, and the WHO has already mapped the terrain.

1. Clear The Air—Effectively - Enforce World Health Organization's Clean Air Quality Guidelines with teeth. That means binding national policies: stricter vehicle emissions, cleaner fuels, and urban planning that puts public health before traffic flow. WHO warns, “Air pollution is the new tobacco.” It's time we treated it that way.

2. Cut Tobacco’s Oxygen Supply - Implement the full WHO's MPOWER strategy: raise taxes, mandate plain packaging, and expand smoke-free zones. These aren’t suggestions—they’re proven tools. When governments raise tobacco taxes by 10%, consumption drops by roughly 4% in high-income countries and up to 8% in low-income ones.

3. Defend Your Lungs At Work - Workplace exposure still accounts for a major portion of CRD cases. Enforce and update occupational safety standards, especially in mining, construction, and manufacturing. Incentivise employers to invest in ventilation, protective gear, and health screenings, not just profits.

And one more lever that multiplies all the others: public awareness. When clean air becomes a public demand, political will follows. Campaigns must move beyond brochures—make clean air a cultural norm, not just a climate target.

Let’s breathe change.

From Declarations to Delivery: Accountability in Global Health

The fourth United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs is approaching. The last one? Widely hailed as a “policy success, implementation failure.” The ideas were right, but the follow-through was not effective.

If we’re serious about moving from rhetoric to results, the global health community needs to embrace a new standard of accountability; one that is relentless, public, and built into the system, not bolted on after.

1. Set targets. Track them. Share them. - Real accountability means measurable goals, public dashboards, and regular reporting. As the WHO puts it, “Transparency drives progress.”

2. Fund with foresight - Declarations don’t pay for implementation. Sustained, long-term financing—national and international—is what moves the needle. As the NCD Alliance. points out, evidence-based interventions need dedicated budgets, not political speeches.

3. Power from the ground up - Community voices, patients, and civil society must move from the margins to the main stage.

Accountability is the engine of implementation. Without it, high-level commitments remain elegantly worded failures.

Governance that Delivers: Turning Health Commitments Into Health Outcomes

If global health commitments are to mean anything five years from now, we need governance that does more than convene meetings.  All while accountability keeps the system honest, governance ensures the system works in the first place. It’s the architecture behind delivery—the frameworks, partnerships, and decision-making protocols that either advance health equity or entrench its opposite.

Here's what that looks like:

1. Shared Accountability - Establish inclusive, multi-stakeholder structures—governments, NGOs, the private sector, and civil society.

2. Data with Teeth - Implement real-time monitoring and adaptive evaluation systems. Not just to count but to correct course.

3. Secure the Funds - Build predictable, sustainable financing streams. That means earmarked public funds, health taxes, and results-based financing. Equity must be the backbone, not the footnote.

4. Community-first Design - National health plans must listen locally. Solutions only work if they’re shaped by those living with the problem.

Governance builds systems that make those promises deliverable and durable.

We have a collective responsibility--specially now--to make sure that CRDs are not sidelined again. Let's integrate them into universal health coverage. Embed clean air goals into urban policy. Fund primary care and frontline workers. And change the language of our declarations to reflect the realities of people's lives. If we say health is a human right, then clean air, timely diagnosis, and affordable treatment cannot be optional. And if we believe in equity, then the right to breathe must be at the centre of the every chapter in global health.