New film on dangerous lung disease

New film on dangerous lung disease aims to save lives

A DVD aimed at helping parents and health professionals act to halt the development of a potentially fatal lung disease in children was launched last night in Wellington by the Asthma Foundation and the Ministry of Health.

The deputy director of the Ministry’s Maori health directorate, Teresa Wall, said that the preventative approach promoted in Cough free — the way to be, by the narrator, former Warriors player Wairangi Koopu, focused on recognising the signs of infection that could lead to bronchiectasis and acting on them.

o From 2003 to 2005, the admission rates to public hospitals with respiratory disease, per 100 000 people, were 2249.8 for Maori and 1367.2 for non-Maori.
o Bronchiectasis is a prevalent form of lung disease among tamariki.
o According to Ministry of Health statistics, from 1992 to 2006, between 40 and 90 New Zealanders were killed annually by bronchiectasis.
o Thousands more New Zealanders live with its considerable health impacts.

Ms Wall said that the short film has huge potential to save lives and to greatly improve the quality of life for people living with the disease.

Although bronchiectasis can develop at any time during a person’s life, it typically starts in early childhood as a result of untreated or persistent infections. In healthy lungs, mucus is cleared by tiny hairs that line the breathing passages of the lungs and a good cough. In lungs affected by bronchiectasis these hairs and breathing passages are damaged, mucus builds up and persistent or repeated infection continues to occur. Children will usually cough but people can otherwise appear healthy while actually being moderately to severely unwell.

Cough free explains how to recognise a chronic persistent wet cough – the main symptom of bronchiectasis– and how to reduce the risk of developing the disease in the first place through breastfeeding tamariki, immunising children, regular aerobic exercise, keeping one’s whare and waka smoke free and a good diet.

The Asthma Foundation’s Chief Executive, Jane Patterson, said the short film is a collaboration involving a number of Aotearoa’s leading respiratory specialists and the beauty of it is that it speaks to whanau, parents and health professionals.

"The key thing is that persistent wet cough that lasts for weeks is not normal and parents and carers must get their child or whomever along to a health professional as soon as they can."

“As one parent said ‘stop counting, do something!’ We see one new child diagnosed with bronchiectasis [irreversible lung scarring] at least every two weeks. This means the child will have recurrent chest infections lifelong with shortened lives. While we can help treat, but not cure, how much better it would be to prevent the disease occurring altogether,” said Starship Hospital respiratory specialist Dr Cass Byrnes.

“If every child with a wet cough of a few weeks duration was seen and treated by their health practitioner or clinic, we could prevent the lung scarring that follows.”

The Asthma Foundation’s Maori Reference Group praised the film, which will be made available through the Asthma Foundation's website and distributed to Asthma Societies throughout New Zealand, saying that it was very practical, reassuring and catered to different audiences.

“It speaks to Maori. It speaks to health professionals and it speaks to whanau trying to keep their tamariki safe. The case study on the film sends out a warning too; it shows you how bad things can get if you ignore a persistent wet cough,” said the chair of the group, Gilbert Taurua.

ENDS

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