NIH: National Action Plan Unifies Approach to Ending US COPD Crisis

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), along with federal and non-federal partners, has released the first-ever COPD National Action Plan, which offers a unified, coordinated approach aimed at ending the COPD crisis in the United States.

The plan identifies the specific work that clinicians, patients, educators, researchers, federal agencies, advocates, and the biomedical industry can do in this effort.  

The action plan focuses on 5 goals:

1. Empower patients, their families, and caregivers to recognize and reduce burden of COPD
2. Equip healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care to patients with COPD
3. Collect, analyze, report, and disseminate COPD data
4. Increase and sustain COPD research
5. Turn COPD recommendations into research and public healthcare actions

“This plan represents a new understanding of what it takes, at every level, to minimize the burden of COPD,” said Gary H. Gibbons, MD, director of the NHLBI.

The NHLBI announced and organized workshops and convened stakeholders of the COPD community—patients and their families, healthcare providers, academics, and industry representatives—for a national COPD Town Hall.

Click here to read more about the COPD Action Plan.

Reference

COPD National Action Plan aims to reduce the burden of the third leading cause of death [news release]. Bethesda, MD: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/press-releases/2017/copd-national-action-plan-aims-reduce-burden-third-leading-cause-death Published May 22, 2017. Accessed June 16, 2107.

This article originally appeared on Clinical Advisor