Liz Lynne chairs discussion on asthma treatment.

5.29.00pm GMT Wed 28th Jan 2009

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne (ALDE, UK) today chaired a roundtable discussion in the European Parliament to look at asthma management and treatment.

The discussion looked at the Irish 'Helping Asthma real Patients' (HARP) initiative, which focuses on the need to provide better information to patients in order to help deal with the worst effects of the condition.

Asthma is still a major problem across Europe, effecting almost 30 million people across the continent. It is estimated that one person in Europe dies every hour from this condition.

Liz chaired the discussion between a number of leading experts in asthma research and treatment including Eduardo Fernandez-Zincke, Member of Cabinet of Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, John Haughney, President, International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG), Jean Holohan, CEO of the Asthma Society of Ireland and David Price, Head of Research at the IPCRG.

Speaking after the event Liz highlighted the importance of finding ways to tackle asthma in Europe:

'5.1m people currently suffer from asthma in the UK and there are still around 1400 deaths per year. Most of which could be prevented with appropriate routine & emergency care.

"As an asthma sufferer myself, I feel there is a real need to make sure that more information is made readily available to patients and that there is much more specialist training for health professionals."

"Patients must be empowered and expect more from their treatment, including an individualised treatment programme and more information on the effects of any drugs they are prescribed."

"Today's discussion was an important one and I very much hope that we can learn from the success of the HARP project in Ireland and translate it into success right across Europe."

ENDS