International and regional experts on chronic respiratory and sleep diseases (CRSD) will gather at an upcoming health summit in Dubai to discuss and debate the latest in pulmonary research and development.

Arab Health 2011 will take place from January 24 to 27, 2011 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Top of the agenda will be strategies to address the diagnostic, therapeutic and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and a potential framework that can create a regional benchmarking strategy.

“Respiratory disease is becoming the second leading cause of death worldwide and a disease like COPD is becoming the number one burden on healthcare budgets. However little is known about these diseases and their impact in the Middle East region,” said Dr Bassam Mahboub, assistant professor at the University of Sharjah, and chair of the CRSD one-day conference at Arab Health 2011.

“We hope to address the most important issues starting with prevalence to diagnosis and state-of-the-art management,” he added.

The growth in prevalence of COPD (lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema), is primarily caused by cigarette smoking although air pollution and dust can also be contributing factors.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) cases of COPD in the US have risen by 44.5 per cent between 1979 and 2007 and nearly 14 million people have been diagnosed with COPD.

If the same ratio between total population and prevalence were used, the UAE would have 125,000 suffers and there would be well over 1.3 million in Saudi Arabia. The NHLBI estimated the cost of COPD to the US economy in 2007 (in healthcare costs and lost productivity) at $42.6 billion.

However the growth of other chronic respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma especially amongst the young, is giving regional healthcare professionals cause for concern.

According to the State of the World Allergy Report of the World Allergy Organization, about 300 million people worldwide have asthma, approximately 50 per cent of whom live in developing countries. The high prevalence of asthma among children in the UAE is particularly alarming, with one in five children in the UAE having asthma.

Asthma tends to run in families and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, children with an asthmatic parent are three to six times more prone to develop asthma than children with healthy parents.

The conference programme for the one-day CRSD event, which takes place on January 27, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, is split into four sessions covering, Bronchial Asthma, Pleural Effusion, COPD and Sleep Medicine, has attracted an strong line-up of international, regional and local experts.

“Chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) are forecast to be amongst the top five killers by 2030 and at present one person in every fifteen dies globally due to the illness,” said Simon Page, group director of life sciences at IIR Middle East, the organiser of Arab Health 2011.

“It is a progressive disease, prevalent throughout the Middle East and it is essential that the region employs preventative strategies to tackle the growth of CRD,” added Page.

The CRSD conference is just one of the highlights on the Arab Health 2011 conference agenda. Twelve conferences ranging from anaesthesia to multiple sclerosis as well as the Leaders In Healthcare conference run concurrently during the event. – TradeArabia News Service