At the 2025 United Nations General Assembly, member states issued a Political Declaration for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases and promotion of mental health through 2030 and beyond.
Part of that declaration included a pledge to “promote national policies for an integrated approach to lung health encompassing both noncommunicable diseases within primary care and scale-up prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”
The member states promised to achieve these goals through improving access to effective treatment, strengthening diagnostic services and establishing structured programs and services for the long-term management of chronic respiratory illnesses.
In a news release, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) praised the statement, welcoming the call for increased access to diagnoses and inhaled medicines. The initiative said that long-acting inhaled bronchodilators needed to treat COPD are currently only available and affordable in 7% of pharmacies and 4% of hospitals in low- and middle-income countries.
GOLD board member David Halpin, MA, MB, led the campaign on behalf of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies to get COPD included in the U.N. declaration. He said the final statement will end an era of neglect for chronic respiratory diseases.
“The burden of COPD is enormous and will inevitably rise further over the next decades, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,” he said. “Governments must now work to implement the declaration and ensure access to affordable inhaled medicines to manage COPD and end the neglect of this common disease.”
Alvar Agusti, MD, chair of the GOLD board of directors, also had high praise for the declaration.
“The recognition of the burden of COPD by the U.N., and the call for improved diagnosis, is a huge step forward,” he said.
