Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children and the one that induces more urgent visits to hospital and primary care centers and causes more days of school lost. Faced with this situation, non-profit third-sector entities, scientific societies, public institutions and the private sector have joined forces for the first time in the joint initiative 'Healthy Cities, for the improvement of childhood asthma' to promote good respiratory health habits and improve control of childhood asthma.

Under the name of “Sevilla Respira”, the initiative has visited the Andalusian city. The project, promoted by the Roger Torné Foundation and the Lovexair Foundation, has the endorsement of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Paediatrics (AEPap), the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology, Allergology and Pediatric Asthma (SEICAP), the Spanish Pneumology Society Pediatric (SENP) and the Foundation for Health Education (FUNDADEPS), as well as with the support of the Seville City Council and the Health Department of the Andalusian Government, and the collaboration of Novartis.

In the words of Soledad Román, General Director of the Fundació Roger Torné, “this initiative has been possible thanks to the union of non-profit entities, scientific societies, public institutions and the private sector. Because childhood asthma is a disease that cannot be controlled solely from the health field, but must have a social and joint approach”.

Soledad Román: "This is a project resulting from a very valuable collective work of different entities". pic.twitter.com/aj1Og5u75t

— asmainchild (@asmainchild) June 1, 2016

Manuel Praena Crespo, Primary Care Pediatrician, Coordinator of the AEPap Respiratory Tract Group, has pointed out that "it is essential that there is therapeutic education with which both the patient and the family learn everything necessary to avoid asthma triggers, take the treatment preventive to avoid relapses, recognize the symptoms to act in case of crisis and know when to seek medical help”.

The delegate of Social Welfare and Employment of the Seville City Council, Juan Manuel Flores, has highlighted the importance that the local government confers on the generation of "an environmentally healthy environment that allows work from the prevention of respiratory diseases and, especially, the childhood asthma”. “A sustainable city will always be less harmful to health”, he has said.

Soledad Román, General Director of the Roger Torné Foundation; Shane Fitch, President of the Lovexair Foundation; Manuel Praena Crespo, Primary Care Pediatrician, Coordinator of the Respiratory Tracts Group of the AEPap; Carlos Marchena, world champion with the Spanish Soccer Team; Juan Manuel Flores, delegate for Employment and Social Welfare of the Seville City Council; María Ángeles Talironte, Managing Director of the Seville Health District; Y Angels Costa, Head of Patient Relations at Novartis Farmacéutica.

The initiative 'Healthy cities, for the improvement of childhood asthma' has been set as goals, firstly, to make families aware of the need to be actively involved in the respiratory health of the little ones. Second, improve control of childhood asthma to ensure good respiratory health in adults. And lastly, bring asthma awareness to the educational field and involve teachers in promoting healthy breathing habits among children. According to Román, "for a good control of childhood asthma it is of vital importance that both families and the educational environment have rigorous and useful information that allows them to have a better understanding of the disease."

As pointed out Shane Fitch, President of the Lovexair Foundation, "we understand training and education as the best way to learn the guidelines that will allow us to better prevent and control the consequences of asthma and, in general, our lung health."

Shane Fitch: "We want children to learn that they can live with this disease" pic.twitter.com/aNeUAMQ6tA

— asmainchild (@asmainchild) June 1, 2016

For his part, Marchena has pointed out that “physical exercise and sports in a well-controlled asthmatic patient improves their physical condition and helps control the disease, so not only is it not prohibited, but it should be promoted. For this reason, ensuring that a child or adolescent with asthma can perform their favorite sport without respiratory limitations must be an inalienable goal”.

Flores, who has supported the Healthy Cities initiative and is grateful for its work, considered that it is necessary to work against environmental factors, including pollution, which trigger respiratory diseases or exacerbate them, while at the same time focusing on the early detection of these, especially among children, in order to contribute to a better quality of life for those who suffer from them.

The campaign will visit the city of Seville on June 5, coinciding with the celebration of World Environment Day, an important event for the entities promoting the initiative precisely because of the importance that a healthy environment free of pollution and tobacco smoke has for the prevention and control of asthma. That day will be held at the Mendigorría Sports Center, from 11.00:14.00 a.m. to 12:XNUMX p.m., an awareness day for families in which fathers, mothers and children over XNUMX years of age will be able to participate in an educational workshop in which pediatricians and children's pulmonologists Rosa Maria Busquets y Manuel Praena They will explain the basic concepts of the disease and help to resolve the parents' doubts, while children from 6 to 12 years old will be able to learn more about the disease through games adapted to their ages. "This is a fun day where children will learn how to better manage asthma through play," Fitch said.

In this way, within the framework of the campaign, educational play days will be developed, aimed at families; school workshops, to provide teachers with the necessary tools to promote greater knowledge of respiratory health and asthma at school; and web platform http://mejorandoelasmainfantil.com/, which houses general information about the project, materials about childhood asthma and respiratory health, both for the general population and for teacher training, and downloadable goose and asthma trivia games. In addition, you can also follow the entire campaign through the Twitter account @asmaininfantil and the hashtag #asmainchild.

The campaign has managed to bring together scientific societies from different specialties and care levels that have collaborated closely in the preparation of materials and workshops. In the words of Manuel Praena, "this Healthy Cities initiative helps patients and their families to strengthen their trust in their health services and become aware that they themselves are the key to obtaining optimal asthma control"