Cape Town, Glenview, Lausanne, Montevideo, New York, Paris, Tokyo, May 5, 2015 – It is estimated that between 300 and 400 million people worldwide suffer from asthma and about 250,000 people die each year, most of them in low- and middle income countries. Although asthma affects all ages, races and ethnicities, wide variation exists in different countries and in different groups within the same country. During the past three decades, asthma has been increasing in developed and developing countries and it is the most common chronic disease in children as described in the Global Asthma Report 2014 (1).

World AIDS Day, held annually on the first day of December each year since 1988, is an opportunity for people around the world to join in the fight, show their support for those living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and commemorate the lives of those who have died.

Cape Town, Glenview, Lausanne, Montevideo, New York, Paris, Tokyo, March 24, 2015 – The global TB prevalence rate, defined as the number of individuals living with TB disease per every 100,000 people, is decreasing more slowly now than at any time since the year 2000, according to data reported annually by the World Health Organization (WHO). The years 2012-2013 (the most recent years for which data are available) saw the slowest reported decline in global TB prevalence in 15 years.

On World COPD Day (19 November 2014), the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is mobilising its members to raise awareness and help prevent the risk factors that cause COPD.