The American Thoracic Society and global partners emphasize that inhaled medications are essential for reducing preventable deaths and hospital admissions.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Anti-Inflammatory Reliever Preference: The Global Initiative for Asthma 2026 update recommends combination inhalers that include an inhaled corticosteroid to treat underlying inflammation and provide rapid symptom relief.
- Global Mortality Gap: Approximately 96% of the 450,000 annual asthma deaths occur in low-middle-income countries where high costs and lack of availability limit access to essential medications.
- Pediatric Treatment Standards: Every person with asthma, including most pre-school children, should receive inhaled corticosteroids to reduce the risk of attacks and preventable mortality.
On World Asthma Day 2026, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) issued a call to action for universal access to anti-inflammatory inhalers.
The organizations maintain that inhaled medications essential for controlling the underlying disease and treating attacks must be accessible to all people with asthma. This year’s theme reinforces that every person with the condition, including most pre-school children, should receive inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). These inhalers reduce the risk of asthma attacks and preventable deaths.
Preferably, the treatment should be a combination two-in-one inhaler containing both an ICS and a quick-acting reliever. Together, these components treat symptoms, prevent attacks, and reduce hospital admissions, the ATS reports.
Asthma is a common chronic non-communicable disease affecting more than 260 million people and is responsible for more than 450,000 deaths annually worldwide. Most of these deaths are preventable.
Asthma attacks involve obstruction of the air passages in the lungs, reducing the ability to inhale oxygen. This obstruction is caused by muscle spasms, inflammation, and mucus that blocks the airways. While short-acting bronchodilator relievers like albuterol only relieve muscle tightening, ICS medications prevent attacks by treating the underlying inflammation.
“In the GINA [Global Initiative for Asthma] 2026 update, the preferred reliever in both GINA track 1 and track 2 is an anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR), combining a fast-acting bronchodilator with an inhaled corticosteroid in a single inhaler, since an AIR not only provides rapid symptom relief thanks to fast bronchodilatation, but also tackles the underlying airway inflammation and reduces the risk of asthma attacks,” said Guy Brusselle, chairman of the GINA board of directors, in a news release.
Doctors and allied healthcare professionals are urged to ensure that all patients are prescribed evidence-based ICS medications. These should be prescribed in addition to, or in combination with, reliever medication to prevent avoidable morbidity and mortality.
In low-middle-income countries, the lack of availability or high cost of inhaled medicines are major contributors to the fact that 96% of global asthma deaths occur in these regions. Even in high-income countries, high costs can limit access to essential medicines, resulting in poorly controlled asthma.
Policy makers, governments, and pharmaceutical industry manufacturers are called upon to ensure inhaled corticosteroids are affordable and available for all those with asthma.
