COPD Foundation to fight pulmonary disease

In the Philippines, for every 1,000 people around 500 are males; half of these males smoke. And within this group, around 16 suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Sixteen out of every thousand may seem a small number, but computed from the country’s population, this means a staggering 1.28 million Filipino males are suffering from COPD. In 20 years, COPD is projected to be one of the top diseases in developing countries like the Philippines.

Assuming each of these COPD sufferers is a minimum wage earner, the estimated loss of income each year due to COPD is, at the minimum, a staggering P123 million! Moreover, it is estimated that someone with moderate to severe COPD can spend from a quarter to half a million pesos on medications. Think of what these millions of pesos could do for children’s education and the welfare of the families.

COPD is an umbrella term for a disease that carries the symptoms of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the world, attacking men and women at the peak of their lives. It is a debilitating disease that has no cure. The sufferer struggles each living moment to get that elusive normal breath that most people take for granted. The difficulty in breathing, sometimes accompanied by chronic cough, results from damage to airways and air sacs of the lungs. When the lungs are unable to function properly, intake of oxygen is impaired and other organs, especially the heart, are eventually affected.

The most devastating consequence of COPD is the incapacitation of the patient during the most productive years of his life. It destroys his ability to earn a living and disrupts the lives of his family members for as long as 20 years before death occurs.

What is the main cause of COPD? Cigarette smoking. It has been said that if it were not for smoking, COPD would have been a rare disease in the world.

Although COPD is considered a very preventable disease, effective treatments for relief of breathlessness do exist in the form of bronchodilators like beta-agonist, anticholinergic and xanthine drugs. Early diagnosis is considered critical in the prolongation and the improvement in the quality of life of these patients.

The COPD Foundation of the Philippines was established to help prevent COPD from becoming an "epidemic" in a few years. Its main objectives include the following:

• To produce public awareness and education on the latest information organizations sharing parallel objectives; and

• To organize, undertake or assist in the conduct of basic and applied scientific researches on COPD in the Philippines.

The foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 14, 2001. Its incorporators include Dr. Teresita de Guia, Dr. Camilio Roa, Dr. Cecil Tady, Dr. Renato Dantes and myself.

For 2001-2002, the COPD Foundation has lined up the following activities:

• Sponsorship of the COPD Award for Outstanding Research and Outstanding Educational Program/Service on COPD;

• Inventory of researches on COPD in the Philippines in preparation for the holding of a workshop on research priority setting on COPD in this country;

• Conduct of short courses for general practitioners regarding new information on better diagnosis and management of the disease; and

• Provision of regular information on COPD to the public (mainly through the media).

The foundation is currently housed at Room 613 of the Medical Arts building of the Philippine Heart Center.

One may think that COPD may unlikely happen to oneself. The newness of the name, the deceptively small number of sufferers may make you shrug your shoulders and say, "It will never be me." The millions of current COPD patients probably thought the same way – until the simple task of inhaling and exhaling became a dreaded routine for them.

The COPD Foundation of the Philippines, together with other organizations, aims to help diminish the specter of COPD, but its eradication ultimately depends on each individual’s choice. Whether or not to light up. Until then, too many and too much will continue to be lost– lives, pesos, dreams, time, opportunities.

(Dr. Daniel Tan is a board member of the COPD Foundation of the Philippines. This article is an excerpt of his remarks during the 7th Midyear Convention of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians last Aug. 8.)