Joe Casson works as Project Support at the International Primary Care Respiratory Group, supporting the development of the Right Care change programmes as well as other IPCRG initiatives.

The International Primary Care Respiratory Group and npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine mark World Asthma Day 2026 campaign: “Access to anti-inflammatory inhalers for everyone with asthma - still an urgent need”

Asthma is one of the most common non-communicable diseases. It affects over 360 million people worldwide and caused 442,000 deaths in 2023, many of them preventable. Asthma has a significant quality of life impact on those with the condition and those who care for them, and asthma attacks can result in hospitalisation and even death.

World Asthma Day is organised by The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) in collaboration with professional and patient organisations across the world to raise awareness of asthma and asthma treatment. This year, World Asthma Day takes place on 5 May, and campaigns to reinforce that people with asthma need access to inhaled anti-inflammatory medicine to control their condition and treat asthma attacks.

The campaign highlights shortcomings in the treatment of asthma globally, which often leaves patients over-reliant on symptom-relieving therapies in the form of short-acting beta2 agonists (SABA), but lacking access to inhaled corticosteroids either in addition to, or in combination with, reliever medication, which prevent asthma attacks by treating the underlying inflammation that causes asthma. This lack of access (due to a lack of supply or affordable options) is particularly acute in low-middle income countries, where 96% of global asthma deaths occur.

The International Primary Care Respiratory Group’s Change Programme, Asthma Right Care, places this message at the centre of its social movement approach.

Right Care means doing the right things and only the right things in the right way for the right people at the right time in the right place, whatever that means in the local context. The initiative offers a vision for Right Care built on 8 statements detailing what good quality asthma care looks like from the perspective of someone with asthma and how clinicians can provide it.

Applying the evidence of social movements for health, Asthma Right Care aims to trigger conversations that create a sense of discomfort and dissatisfaction with the present state, so that there is a shared ownership of the problem and commitment to improve care and ultimately patient outcomes.  It started with conversation triggers about over-reliance on symptom relief and has expanded to over-reliance on episodic care and also under and mis diagnosis of asthma.

Associate Professor Jaime Correia de Sousa, the chair of IPCRG’s Asthma Right Care Strategy Group which has provided guidance for the movement since the first pilots in 2017, states that “all people with asthma should be entitled to ongoing treatment with inhalers containing anti-inflammatory drugs, in accordance with their individual needs, at an affordable cost and without administrative restrictions imposed by their healthcare system.”

A Delivery Team comprised of the 35 national Asthma Right Care groups participating in the movement meets quarterly to share implementation updates and insights into local initiatives. These updates are written up as news articles to demonstrate good practice and inspire the IPCRG network - find more information here.

The movement has produced a collection of practical resources to start conversations about how primary care can facilitate Right Care in asthma; all of these resources have been translated and adapted for local use:

Question & Challenge Cards

These cards can be used as icebreakers, offering information and asking provocative questions to start conversations between clinical peers, with people with lived experience and with students about asthma.

SABA Slide Rule

A visual and interactive tool inspired by the Readiness Ruler and other visual tools exploring how many puffs of their SABA the individual is using, how this compares to international guideline advice, and, where it signals over-use, exploring importance and confidence to request a review.

References:

1. Williams S, Correia de Sousa J, Khoo EM, Ghedira H, Mak V, Martínez Vázquez M, Vicente C, Attar-Zadeh D. How to make Asthma Right Care 'easy' in primary care: learnings from the 2023 Asthma Right Care Summit. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2024 Apr 26;34(1):4.
2. Williams S. Asthma Right Care: what will you commit to? Gen. Pract. Nurs. 2021;7:12.
3. Nannini L, Aisanov Z, Aksu K, Alzaabi A, Antúnez M, Cañizares-Fernandez L, Cohen-Todd M, Crooks MG, Farouk H, Ferrari SS, Fu PK, Garcia N, Hatem A, Le Van Ngoc T, Maneechotesuwan K, Mattarucco WJ, Mpe J, Ribas FXM, Vázquez-Cortés JJ, Yunus F. The Feasibility and Impact of Implementing Interventions to Reduce Short-Acting β2-Agonist Over-Reliance in Asthma: An Expert Opinion. Adv Ther. 2025 Oct;42(10):4797-4823.
4. Price D, Beekman MJHI, Mattarucco WJ, Barriga-Acevedo RM, Wang HC, Diaz DV, Khattab A, Pacheco Gallego M, Al Zaabi A, Farouk H, Attar-Zadeh D. Over-the-counter short-acting β2-agonist purchase and asthma-related health outcomes: a post hoc analysis of the SABINA III study. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2024 Nov 1;34(1):34.
5. Bouloukaki I, Spanias C, Ierodiakonou D, Tzanakis N, Williams S, Tsiligianni I. Primary healthcare professionals' perceptions, attitudes and ideas regarding asthma management in Greece: A mixed-method study. Eur J Gen Pract. 2024 Dec;30(1):2418301.

Reliever Reliance Test

This assessment tool helps a person with asthma reflect on their SABA use, challenges common perceptions that SABA is the best treatment, and encourages them to consult a healthcare practitioner if they are at risk of over-reliance on SABA. It is informed both by validated behavioural frameworks and also by the types of quizzes popular on social media . It includes a 5-item validated self-completion questionnaire assessing perceived need for SABA  (the SABA Reliance Questionnaire, SRQ), a single item assessing SABA use, and feedback.

References:

1. Horne R, Weinman J, Hankins M. The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire: the development and evaluation of a new method for assessing the cognitive representation of medication. Health. 1999;14:1.
2. Chan AHY, Katzer CB, Horne R, et al. SABA Reliance Questionnaire (SRQ): Identifying Patient Beliefs Underpinning Reliever Overreliance in Asthma. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 2020.
3. Moon Z, Kaplan A, Mak V, et al. The Reliever Reliance Test: evaluating a new tool to address SABA over-reliance. NPJ primary care respiratory medicine 2024; 34(1): 36.
4. Bouloukaki I, Christodoulakis A, Williams S, Tsiligianni I. Over-reliance on short-acting beta-agonists (SABAs) in asthma: a mixed method study, in primary care, in Greece. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2025 Nov 26;35(1):60.
5. Barne M. Gaps in asthma diagnosis and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. Front Allergy. 2023 Oct 23;4:1240259.

Emergency and Urgent Care Centres - response to asthma/suspected asthma TOP TIPS

A poster on how best to manage asthma or suspected asthma, for display in emergency rooms and primary care urgent care centres. For some, the emergency room is where they first hear about asthma and asthma medicine. As every attendance is a teachable moment, the poster includes important messages about inhalers to encourage the right use of the right medicine to help prevent future asthma attacks.

IPCRG’s UK member group, the Primary Care Respiratory Society, recently published a consensus guide on implementing the latest asthma guidelines in all healthcare settings, particularly when this takes place in unplanned care settings.

Desktop Helpers

User-friendly and evidence-based guidance for primary care, providing practical support on different aspects of the diagnosis and management of respiratory diseases. Many of our Desktop Helpers are available in several languages and supported by additional resources such as case studies. The latest Desktop Helpers on asthma cover asthma and mental health, Peak Expiratory Flow and difficult-to-manage asthma.

Clinical case studies for teaching

A collection of five case studies on using Asthma Right Care with patients in different scenarios, including chest infection, adolescents, patients seen at the Emergency Department, moderate asthma, and difficult to manage asthma.

Many in the Asthma Right Care movement have published peer-reviewed articles in npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, which since January 2025 has been the official journal of IPCRG and its members. Last June, the journal's Impact Factor was upgraded to a strong 4.7, placing it in the top quartile of both primary care and respiratory medicine journals. José Luis Castro, the WHO Director-General Special Envoy for Chronic Respiratory Diseases, stated "For researchers, clinicians, and policymakers working to improve respiratory outcomes, this journal offers timely, peer-reviewed insights into what works—and how it can be implemented at scale.”

npjPCRM welcomes submissions that improve care in asthma and promote right care in all directions within primary care. Here is a selection of the journal’s asthma-related output in the last 12 months:

• Gleeson, M., McCarthy, C., Shaughnessy, F.O. et al. Asthma management in pregnancy and lactation: A review of current evidence and best practice recommendations. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. (2026).
• Juang, Y.R., Lim, L.H.M., Chotirmall, S.H. et al. Projecting the 20-year healthcare resource burden of asthma and COPD multimorbidity: insights from Singapore for integrated chronic respiratory care in South-East Asia. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. (2026).
• Tibble, H., Lee, B. & Skene, I. Asthma clinical decision support systems in primary care: an updated scoping review of implementation. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. (2026).
• Nilsson, J., Backman, H., Karlsson Sundbaum, J. et al. Asthma/COPD clinics increases adherence to management guidelines and associates with less morbidity and lower all-cause mortality – a prospective cohort study. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 17 (2026).
• León, J.S.T. Recognising the family physician in asthma and COPD guidelines: a necessary step for effective primary care implementation. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 14 (2026).
• Nantanda, R., Najjingo, I., Kjaergaard, J. et al. Childhood asthma in Uganda: experiences of healthcare providers and caregivers in diagnosis and management. A FRESH AIR qualitative study. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 19 (2026).
• Wank, A., Fresemann, M., Schöner, L. et al. Age-related differences in patient-reported quality of care among adult German patients with bronchial asthma: a cross-sectional study.npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 16 (2026).
• Çifçi, İ., Gök, U. & Yorgancıoğlu, A. A current assessment of family physicians’ knowledge and attitudes toward asthma management in primary care in Turkey according to the GINA strategy report.npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 5 (2026).
• Myers, L., Bellander, M., Ljungberg, H. et al. Assessing diagnostic accuracy for asthma with home spirometry in primary care.npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 3 (2026).
• Allarakhia, S., Morra, A., Theal, R. et al. Characterizing adult asthma: a cross-sectional epidemiologic study from the canadian primary care sentinel surveillance network.npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 35, 57 (2025).
• Ryan, D., Kocks, J.W.H., Williams, S. et al. The asthma diagnosis jigsaw puzzle: an adaptable teaching concept to facilitate the diagnosis of asthma in adults and children presenting to primary care.npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 35, 14 (2025)
• Braido, F., Baiardini, I., Barbaglia, S. et al. A guide for a patient-centric approach to asthma management: results of a European Delphi consensus programme. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 36, 2 (2026).

The npjPCRM publications below are specifically on Asthma Right Care:

• Williams S, Correia de Sousa J, Khoo EM, Ghedira H, Mak V, Martínez Vázquez M, Vicente C, Attar-Zadeh D. How to make Asthma Right Care 'easy' in primary care: learnings from the 2023 Asthma Right Care Summit. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2024 Apr 26;34(1):4.
• Moon Z, Kaplan A, Mak V, et al. The Reliever Reliance Test: evaluating a new tool to address SABA over-reliance. NPJ primary care respiratory medicine 2024; 34(1): 36.
• Bouloukaki I, Christodoulakis A, Williams S, Tsiligianni I. Over-reliance on short-acting beta-agonists (SABAs) in asthma: a mixed method study, in primary care, in Greece. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2025 Nov 26;35(1):60.

Click here for more information about npjPCRM, and here to explore Asthma Right Care.