“COPD will soon be the third leading cause of death in the world and it cannot continue to be a semi unknown and underdiagnosed disease” said John Walsh, president of the COPD Foundation of the United States, this morning at the opening of the I Global Meeting of COPD patients. This event brings together these days in Madrid for the first time the heads of patient associations, doctors and industry representatives from 20 countries on five continents, with the aim of sharing the situation of the disease in each country, giving the COPD more visibility in socio-health policies and encourage the leadership of the patients themselves.

John Walsh wanted to remember that although the first cause of COPD is smoking, there are many others that have nothing to do with it, such as pollution, work-related reasons for being in contact with harmful chemical substances or of genetic origin. “We have to fight against that certain social stigma against COPD patients that you have earned it by having smoked, we must overcome that and talk about the other causes, industrial, chemical, occupational, genetic and pollution”.

“As patients, we need improvements in oxygen equipment and its management, something that is very important, for example in airplanes. Many people cannot travel or move from their city because the airlines put too many obstacles and do not facilitate the use of oxygen equipment” he added.

For Walsh, it is necessary to continue researching to continue improving the quality of life of patients. “The industry and doctors are looking for solutions, but we as patients have to support them, give them our opinion, talk with them and begin to identify the next steps to take. We are here to work together and build a global response,” she concluded.

Paloma Casado, Deputy Director General for Quality and Cohesion of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, highlighted at the opening the importance of COPD within the health system as it is the fourth leading cause of death in our country, the high burden of care that , due to its chronic nature and how much it affects the quality of life of patients. "Our main lines of action are to promote research, search for new treatments and work on early detection and diagnosis, together with the improvement of portable oxygen therapy and quality of life", she assured. In this sense, they are working to implement spirometers and perform spirometries in primary care centers, thus increasing the number of tests and their frequency. Likewise, the Ministry understands that it is necessary to improve oxygen therapy, both home and portable, as it is vital to improve the quality of life of patients. "One point we have to work on is to delay the age of onset of smoking, reinforcing the work of information and education in young people about the harmful effects of tobacco" concluded Casado.

Julio Ancochea, Director of the National Strategic Plan for COPD; he presented his “COPD Decalogue”, in which he summarized the seriousness of the disease, its high social and personal cost, and his current needs. It is a preventable disease, which could almost disappear if smoking were stopped. However, it is highly prevalent and underdiagnosed, so it is treated late. It is the paradigm of chronic disease and supposes a tremendous consumption of resources for the health system. Their health care continues to be deficient and new alternatives to conventional hospitalization are needed, such as better home treatment, with new technologies. Like the rest of the attendees, he stressed that more research and greater dissemination and knowledge are needed in our society and that the training of professionals be promoted. "It has been the great forgotten when it has a tremendous impact on the health system," Ancochea pointed out.

Inmaculada Alfageme, President-elect of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR); she highlighted the importance that the scientific society gives to the relationship with respiratory patients. “We are convinced of the need to be in contact with patients, to make diseases known in society, to develop activities for patients and to collect their concerns and expectations”, declared Alfageme. “We have created networks of professionals for specific diseases and we want to make a greater social dissemination. We have tools such as the “Patients like you” website, where advice is exchanged with people who are also ill in the same situation and most of them are chronic and have COPD”, continued the president-elect of SEPAR. "We have launched the RESPIRA Classrooms, existing in 40 hospitals throughout Spain, with training sessions for patients, with face-to-face and online classes," added Alfageme.

The meeting, prior to World COPD Day, has the support of the Lovexair Foundation and the EPOC Foundation and with the participation of various European lung organizations.