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WE CARE ABOUT YOUR LUNGS!

The global impact of the five main respiratory diseases (COPD, asthma, respiratory infections, tuberculosis (TB) and lung cancer) is massive. Combined they represent an immense burden of suffering, as well as a leading cause of death and disability. They include both acute and chronic, infectious and non-communicable diseases.

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) was established in 2001, with members coming from several existing international societies, including American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American Thoracic Society (ATS), Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR), Asociación Latino Americana De Tórax (ALAT), European Respiratory Society (ERS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union), Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS). Since the launch of FIRS, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) have also joined, for a total of 9 member organisations.

Charter for Lung Health

About us

The forum aims to promote advocacy in matters of global respiratory health and the identification of new areas for global initiatives

FIRS was established in 2001, with members coming from a number of international societies, including the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American Thoracic Society (ATS), Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR),  Asociación Latino Americana De Tórax (ALAT), European Respiratory Society (ERS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union), Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS). Since the launch of FIRS, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) have also joined.

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  • WAD18 Facebook3

    Tuberculosis (TB) is the world’s leading infectious disease and it accounts for one in three deaths from HIV/AIDS, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2018 report on TB. This is why on World AIDS Day the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), calls on governments, health advocates and non-government organisations to strengthen their response to AIDS and TB.

    “AIDS and TB are a deadly combination,” said Polly Parsons, MD, President of American Thoracic Society, a FIRS founding member. “In the developing world, TB is often the first sign a person has HIV. Together, the diseases are far worse than they are alone.”

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  • An article published in the European Respiratory Journal found that a higher proportion of patients diagnosed with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) lived in cities with higher levels of air pollutants. [1].

    “We discovered that the majority of patients with HP in India, were living in urban cities, prompting an investigation into the link between ambient air pollution in urban India and the high incidence of HP,” Ganesh Raghu, MD, senior research author and Professor of Medicine and Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. [2]

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  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a preventable and treatable disease that causes breathlessness, chronic sputum production and cough, there are 251 million current cases of COPD in the world. COPD is currently the 3rd leading cause of death globally and is highly prevalent in low resource countries. Exposure to tobacco smoke and other inhaled toxic particles and gases are the main risk factors for COPD, although recent research has identified that suboptimal lung growth before and after birth can also increase the risk of COPD later in life.

    World COPD Day is an annual global initiative run by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), who are members of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS).

    Read more...

Publications



 

cover the global impact of respiratory disease

Calendar

FIRS Member Conferences

17-22 May 2019 Dallas, USA ATS
03-06 July 2019 Panama ALAT
28 Sep-02 Oct 2019 Madrid, Spain ERS
19-23 Oct 2019 New Orleans, USA CHEST
30 Oct-02 Nov 2019 Hyderabad, India UNION
14-17 Nov 2019 Hanoi, Vietnam APSR

World days related to lung health

24 Mar 2019 World Tuberculosis Day
7 May 2019 World Asthma Day
31 May 2019 World No Tobacco Day
1 Aug 2019 World Lung Cancer Day
25 Sep 2019 World Lung Day
12 Nov 2019 World Pneumonia Day
20 Nov 2019 World COPD Day
1 Dec 2019 World AIDS Day

Get in touch!

FIRS

Forum of International Respiratory Societies

Avenue Ste-Luce 4 |1003 Lausanne (Switzerland)
Alexandra Alexandropoulou

 

 

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