It’s time to address this leading cause of death: COPD

Speak Up for COPD is supported by a coalition of partners across the non-profit sector and pharmaceutical industry to establish COPD as a public health priority. Funding is provided by pharmaceutical industry partners. All partners contributed to this document.
Coalition partners: Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform (GAAPP), International Federation of Ageing (IFA), COPD Foundation, International Coalition of Respiratory Nurses (ICRN) and International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), with funding from AstraZeneca, Roche, Sanofi and Regeneron.
Should a disease that’s preventable but also the third leading cause of death globally (excluding COVID-19) and projected to cost trillions of dollars be a public health priority?
As a global patient advocate, I would say yes. But the reality is that it’s not. At least not today. I’m talking about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. And it’s time to make it a global priority.
COPD kills more people yearly than lung and breast cancer combined and is predicted to cost the global economy $4.3 trillion between 2020 and 2050. Yet only 5% of health policymakers surveyed in 2020 considered it a priority.
Equally important is the impact that COPD has on an individual human level. It’s a debilitating disease that can place an incredible strain on patients, their families and health systems.
Those living with advanced COPD can experience chronic cough, difficulty breathing and reduced lung function. The disease can also impact patients’ freedom – they may need help dressing and bathing, and sometimes may have to rely on friends and family for other basic tasks. That is assuming they have loved ones close by. In addition, around 40% of people with COPD have to reduce or stop working altogether. This strain is even greater for those of lower socioeconomic status.
A new report, The Global State of COPD, produced by The Speak Up for COPD Coalition, shines a light on the challenges associated with addressing COPD and the health inequities that characterize this debilitating disease. It also offers best practices and policy solutions from around the world. We believe strongly in three things: COPD is undertreated, underfunded and under-prioritised on the world stage as a public health threat. But more importantly, we, the Speak Up for COPD Coalition, are united in our belief that policy action can change this.
All COPD patients deserve the best care, regardless of their socioeconomic background
COPD is a disease compounded by the social determinants of health and health inequities that exist at a systemic and local level.
Achieving healthy equity means that all people have the same opportunities and access to care. However, several factors associated with lower socioeconomic status put some at an increased risk of developing COPD, as well as a disadvantage to accessing proper care.
Many of you reading this may believe that COPD is solely a smoker’s disease, but many COPD patients have never smoked. 
The reality is that environmental factors can make people more vulnerable to the disease. A person’s living environment may expose them to household and outdoor air pollutants, poor nutrition, infections and tobacco smoke from neighbours or family members, even if they are non-smokers, all of which increases the risk of COPD. In fact, up to 23% of all COPD deaths in low- and middle-income countries are associated with household air pollution.
That said, the social stigma of COPD as a “smoker’s disease” can make people less willing to engage with health services. Against this backdrop, estimates suggest that up to 80% of people who have COPD remain undiagnosed – and those who are diagnosed late are almost 70% more likely to have an exacerbation compared with those diagnosed early. Furthermore, one study found that a mere 25% of people suffering from moderate COPD exacerbations receive sufficient follow-up care.
With more than one in five people dying within one year of being hospitalised for a COPD exacerbation, it’s evident that more needs to be done to break down stigmas, catch COPD early and provide sufficient and timely care to avoid exacerbations.
Acting now means changing our global future for COPD
There may be people in your life who are at the beginning stages of COPD. Depending on what we do today, we could prevent their condition from becoming debilitating or deadly. 
If we take no action, estimates predict COPD prevalence could approach 600 million cases worldwide by 2050. That’s nearly 8% of the world population today.
This growth in cases comes with a rise in the global costs associated with COPD, placing a further burden on healthcare systems already under immense strain.
COPD is a global issue affecting millions, but change must happen at a local and national level. Policymakers in their home countries understand their country’s diverse populations, communities and the social determinants of health facing their people – and therefore, what policy solutions they should advance to make the biggest impact in addressing COPD in their countries, such as those enabling earlier interventions and access to proper care.
Added to this, if countries intend to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 – such as reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases – they need to act now. The Speak Up for COPD coalition has laid the groundwork for this action. Now we’re building on the momentum with a global report outlining tangible policy actions that can support policymakers to transform COPD care.
The Global State of COPD report 2024 – what you can do
The Global State of COPD report, initiated by Speak Up for COPD, was developed using insights from interviews with 30 clinical and COPD experts to offer policy best practices and key opportunities for local-level policy action and health system change.
More specifically, the report includes four primary recommendations:
I want to highlight two of these recommendations. Our findings show that early detection and diagnosis paired with timely access to comprehensive care, can help change the future of COPD. While more context is available in the report, this means that we need to:
BEST PRACTICES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Take policy action and help us help those with COPD worldwide
We can change the future of care by strengthening policies that drive prevention, enable earlier diagnosis, facilitate timely access to care, and elevate COPD as a public health priority.
I will leave you with one statistic: on average, 425 people die of COPD every hour. There is no time to waste – please read The Global State of COPD for insights you can use to change the trajectory of COPD care for your community and your country.
Join us as we continue to fight for those living with COPD. Learn more here.
Z4-66167 | Date of preparation August 2024