Søren Brostrøm
World Health Organization
On why the greatest gains lie in prevention, and in putting basic diagnostics and medicines within reach of primary care.
WORKSHOP · 10–11 OCTOBER 2026 · BERLIN
A closed workshop where parliamentarians from 16 countries developed roadmaps to advance chronic respiratory disease policy.
Current and former parliamentarians from 16 countries took part.
Albania · Angola · Egypt · Georgia · Germany · Ghana · India · Libya · Malawi · Pakistan · Poland · Serbia · Slovakia · South Korea · Tunisia · Türkiye
Chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma remain under-diagnosed, under-resourced and under-prioritised in national health agendas. Global commitments exist, from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) to the 2025 World Health Assembly resolution on lung health. Translating them into legislation, budgets and implementation is where progress tends to stall.
Parliaments are well placed to close that gap. Over two half-day sessions, GHPL and UNITE brought legislators together with WHO, national health officials and respiratory health experts to identify where parliament can make the greatest difference, draw up roadmaps for action and shape a CRD Parliamentary Toolkit.
On why the greatest gains lie in prevention, and in putting basic diagnostics and medicines within reach of primary care.
On Egypt’s expansion of national screening from hepatitis to cancers, diabetes and hypertension, and on its national lung health programme.
On moving from global resolutions to action and impact, and the practical tools patient organisations can bring to that work.
On designing for the healthiest population, not just the best health system.
On why doing nothing is also a political choice, and why the cost of inaction needs to be made visible.
This workshop was made possible thanks to support from Sanofi and Regeneron. The discussions and outputs were developed independently by GHPL and UNITE.