Letitia’s Message

Well, we have settled into the New Year nicely, but it certainly hasn’t been a slow start here at the Foundation! At the end of last year, we began updating the national Adolescent and Adult Asthma Guidelines. This is a large body of work, which we hope will be released in the first half of this year, and is led by Scientific Advisory Board member Professor Richard Beasley. Following the release of these Guidelines, the Foundation will update all of the resources that go with them - including the Summary Guidelines, Asthma Management plans, Diaries, and the My Asthma App. Collectively it’s a big project, but one we here at the Foundation know is paramount to better asthma management. We are also pleased to be working on the first ever New Zealand Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Guidelines which are also due to be released in 2020. This is a huge step towards helping the thousands of Kiwis who live with this condition, which includes emphysema.

These updated Guidelines will inform best practice for health professionals, doctors, nurses, kaiawhina, and others in the respiratory field.

Over the past year the Foundation heard from many concerned parents, teachers, societies, health professionals and other NGOs on the subject of youth vaping. As there were no regulations (but they are coming soon) around this industry in New Zealand, we decided to do something about it. The “Don’t Get Sucked In” campaign launched on February 3rd, with the sole purpose of educating youth around the harms of vaping.

Feedback to the Foundation was that many young people vaping is totally harmless, and we know that this is not the case.

While possibly safer than smoking, vaping is not without harm to the lungs. Moreover, it should only be used by smokers as another quit tool, and

Presenting our new Don’t Get Sucked In campaign posters on TVNZ’s Breakfast show

only after approved Medsafe and FDA products have been tried and failed, and in conjunction with wrap around support services and programmes by providers such as Quitline or Hāpai te Hauora.

As CE, I have been busy meeting with various health sector authorities including being part of a Health Promotion Agency NGO working group initiative, which seeks greater alignment across respective lifestyle related areas. I was also able to represent the Foundation at the 2020 Waitangi Day Garden Reception held at Government House, which is always such an honour and privilege.

With World Asthma Day coming up on May 5th, our focus will be on ‘six breaths saves lives’, to educate children and teachers about what to do when there is a emergency.

Last year we had almost 200 schools and organisations get involved, and this year we hope to reach even more! We’ll be sending postcards out to all schools across the country, with activity and fundraising packs ready to go.

We’ve had a rip-roaring start to 2020; let’s keep it up!