Building on the continued success of the Healthy Lung Programme, AstraZeneca with Business Sweden, The Swedish Trade & Invest Council in Taiwan, hosted the 2nd Healthy Lung Summit this week, bringing together experts from across nine countries to share progress made by regional taskforces and develop best practice approaches.

Data presented from the work of the Healthy Lung Taskforces across the region has helped to diagnose the respiratory disease of more than 425,000 new patients Supported the education of more than 22,000 healthcare professionals and more than 24,000 patients Supported the update and/or creation of 10 national guidelines and care pathways Supported the certification of 956 respiratory centres of excellence

The Healthy Lung Programme, is a partnership activity between AstraZeneca, national Governments and professional organisations to raise the profile of respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer, and build the capability of healthcare systems in these countries to manage these diseases. To date, three bilateral agreements have been secured with Governments across the Asia-Pacific region and 15 formal partnerships secured to improve respiratory care, reaching over close to half a million patients across the region.

As Healthy Lung moves into 2019, activity will focus on expanding its impact to benefit the lives of a far greater number of patients. To do this, National Task Forces are being challenged to:

• Support additional reforms to help to overcome other established challenges facing care for respiratory disease
• Improve the measurement of Healthy Lung-related activities, focusing on the development of robust, validated data on impact
• Share new data with a yet broader audience of policymakers and clinical leaders to demonstrate the value of clinical reform

The second Healthy Lung Summit, organised by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Business Sweden, The Swedish Trade & Invest Council in Taiwan, is part of a continued commitment to help enhance healthcare systems and build sustainable capabilities to improve outcomes for respiratory disease across Asia.

Speaking ahead of the Summit, co-chairs, Professor Meng-Chih Lin, President of Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Dr Lee Po-Chang, Director General of the National Health Insurance Administration commented: "This 2nd Healthy Lung Summit offers a chance for countries to learn from each other and share best-practice examples highlighting just what we can achieve by working together nationally and across the region to deliver tangible improvements for patients. We are proud of our achievements to date -- reaching over 130,000 patients and educating over 5,000 doctors -- but there is more to be done and we are committed to accelerating progress to deliver real improvements for future generations."

Asthma affects 315 million adults worldwide, and more than 107 million people in Asia Pacific region alone are living alone with asthma. However, less than one third of asthmatics worldwide are treated with preventative therapy and less than ten per cent of COPD patients are seeking treatment. The Healthy Lung Task Force supports collaboration and aims to strengthen relationships between nine countries to improve outcomes for patients with respiratory conditions across the region.