MANILA, Philippines - Taking good care of your loved ones is a way of showing how much you value them, but how can you keep them safe if you are not fully aware of the diseases that can snag them out of your loving hands?
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a progressive lung ailment that makes breathing difficult and invariably leads to death, is the seventh killer disease in the Philippines.
Cigarette smoking causes up to 90 percent of COPD cases, which is why the high number of cases in the Philippines is not surprising given there are 17.3 million adult smokers in the country.
Despite the big number, only two percent of the 4.2 million Filipinos are diagnosed because not everyone is aware of how perilous the condition is.
As COPD is a progressive disease, it becomes a familial problem, much like the case of the Quizon family wherein the Comedy King himself suffered from the disease.
In relation to the case of Dolphy and the cases of those who might be suffering from it, GSK’s Medical Director, Dr. Gio Barangan, at the launch of a campaign tagged as #MakeTimeForDad, emphasized the importance of having an early consultation to avoid the mistake of knowing about the disease when it is already at the later stages.
“It is easy to confuse COPD with other conditions such as smoker’s cough and shortness of breath due to ageing but if your father is a smoker and he begins to experience coughing with phlegm and an unusual breathing pattern, consult a doctor.” Dr. Barangan explains.
The campaign, participated by Quizon brothers Eric and Epy to honor their father, serves as a reminder for them to act now if they feel that their loved ones are at risk for COPD, and value each moment they spend with them.
“Our dad died because of COPD and we just found out it is actually one of the leading causes of death in the country,” says Epy.
“We want to educate people, and make them aware of the disease. We hope this will give them a clearer picture of how the disease affects not only the patient but the entire family,” he adds.