Hundreds of thousands of NL residents struggle with shortness of breath

Shortness of breath or chest tightness makes daily life difficult for hundreds of thousands of people in the Netherlands, according to the Lung Fund, which, together with the lung alliance LAN, launched a publicity campaign to make more people aware of this problem.

The Netherlands counts around 1.2 million people with lung diseases. Every year, nearly 34 thousand of them end up in hospital, struggling to breathe. That is almost 100 per day. A survey of 902 people with asthma or other lung diseases showed that 73 percent suffer from shortness of breath or chest tightness. 63 percent said this makes it difficult for them to climb stairs. 43 percent said they have a hard time going grocery shopping.

"Being able to breath freely is not a matter of course," Lung Fund director Michael Rutgers said. "Certainly now, that becomes painfully clear. Unfortunately, due to corona, more and more people are realizing what it is like to be short of breath. This is a daily reality for hundreds of thousands of people with lung disease. It is very important that this becomes visible."

The campaign with the motto "Give Breath" aims to draw attention to shortness of breath and chest tightness. "We visualize the story of people with lung disease," Rutgers said. "In this way, we show what shortness of breath does to them. We want to activate people to contribute to a world where everyone can breathe freely. By living in healthy air in a healthy way. And by enabling groundbreaking scientific research into lung repair and the prevention of asthma. We believe that together we can eliminate lung diseases."