AstraZeneca Together With The Indonesian Ministry Of Health And PDPI Education For Asma Laksana In Healthcare Workers

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - AstraZeneca together with the Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association (PDPI) provide education and socialization about asthma management for health workers (nakes), patients and the community.

"We support the transition to a more holistic and control-oriented treatment approach for asthma so that more patients can live healthier, more active, and free from recurrence," said AstraZeneca Indonesia President Director Esra Erkomay in his official statement in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Saturday, June 21.

Esra explained that the activities held referred to the 2025 Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines, which emphasized that single SABA therapy is no longer recommended as a treatment for asthma, as it only relieves temporary symptoms without overcoming inflammation as the main cause of disease.

Instead, GINA recommends the use of anti-inflammatory operator-based therapy, namely a combination of Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICS) formoterol, which can relieve symptoms as quickly and effectively Short-acting beta-agnonyts (SABA), while working to reduce inflammation underlying the emergence of asthma symptoms. A number of studies show that the use of long-term SABA can increase the risk of exaparation to death.

Therefore, the conformol combination of ICS's therapeutic approach is now recommended as the first line of asthma treatment for better asthma.

Together with the Ministry of Health, his party carried out the socialization of GINA's latest guidelines in order to increase the technical capacity of health workers in the First Level Health Facility (FKTP). There were about 500 doctors present at the event.

"With cross-sectoral collaboration, AstraZeneca is optimistic that this new approach to asthma-like governance can help more patients in Indonesia live a better, active and free from repeated attacks," he said.

Director of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), Siti Nadia Tarmizi emphasized that the government continues to strive to strengthen asthma management services through promotive, preventive, and continuous treatment approaches, including improving service quality at health centers as the front line.

"Collaboration with partners like AstraZeneca is an important part in expanding access to comprehensive asthma services and in accordance with the latest guidelines," said Nadia.

Together with PDPI, he continued, he has held educational sessions for 400' 500 lung specialists with the theme Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for All. This activity emphasizes the importance of using appropriate inhalation therapy, as well as discussing the risks of using single SABA and long-term asthma-like and exaservation according to GINA 2025.

PDPI Secretary General Anna Rozaliyani added that the collaboration between PDPI and AstraZeneca is a strategic step in strengthening clinical understanding and encouraging the implementation of more comprehensive asthma management according to global guidelines.

"Through sustainable education to medical personnel, we hope that the introduction of symptoms, early diagnosis, and selection of therapy, especially proper therapy, can be carried out more accurately," he said.

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that asthma was experienced by around 262 million people worldwide and was the cause of around 455,000 deaths. In Indonesia, the prevalence of asthma diagnosed by doctors was recorded at 1.6 percent, with nearly 58.3 percent of patients experiencing recurrence in the last 12 months.

If not recognized and treated from an early age, asthma can develop into a more severe condition and have a big impact and even death.