Big 5 Lung Diseases Workshop of APSR and Union APR

Message from the Workshop Organisers

At the APSR 2022 Congress in Seoul, representatives from APSR, the Union APR and representatives nominated by WHO SEARO, and with guidance from WHO WPRO, held a workshop to address these diseases and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This collaboration led to a highly productive workshop, with a specific focus on primary care models tailored to low- and middle-income countries. Summaries of these discussions are published in the APSR journal, Respirology, which is freely accessible to anyone interested. Towards regional progress: APSR 2022 Big Five Lung Diseases Workshop. The summaries published in the journals have garnered over 1,500 views, and the workshop's webpage has attracted more than 1,200 visitors.

As part of our commitment, we also developed and published practical toolkits for managing the "Big Five" lung diseases in primary care settings https://apsr.org/education-science/big5-lung-diseases/ to to help our respiratory communities work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3.

These toolkits, now freely available online, have been downloaded over 130 times by healthcare workers from hospitals, clinics, NGOs, and community health organizations in low- to upper-middle-income countries. Feedback from users has been positive, with many indicating their intention to incorporate these toolkits into daily clinical practice to enhance patient treatment and management and training programs for fellow practitioners.

Building on this success, the 2nd Big Five Workshop will be held on November 13, 2025, during the APSR 2025 Congress in Manila. This workshop will aim to further refine and improve primary care strategies for big 5 lung diseases, contributing to global health progress and the achievement of the SDGs.

Please mark your diaries and look out for registration information nearer the time. 

	Dr Kwun Fong, Past President, APSR

	Dr Elizabeth Cadena President, Union APR