Dear Global Asthma Network colleagues and friends, A very warm welcome to you all, to this - the very first Global Asthma Network (GAN) newsletter. As you know, GAN was established in 2012, developing out of two groups, the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), bringing strengths from both organisations.
We are proud to say we have expressions of interest in GAN from 229 centres from 101 countries already! In the following pages you will find more detail on the centres. We have also included a section on website use-age which you might find useful. This was something we included in the ISAAC newsletters.
The 2014 American Thoracic Society (ATS) conference will be held in San Diego, USA from May 16-21. Our very first collaborative GAN abstract has been submitted and we are yet to hear about the outcome. The title and authorship is “Asthma management guidelines and strategies – who has them? P Ellwood, E Ellwood, MI Asher and the Global Asthma Study Group”. We have booked a GAN Exhibit Space in the Global Community section of the Exhibit Hall and hope to see you if you are attending the ATS. Philippa Ellwood and I will both be at the GAN booth. I have also been invited to present a lecture at the ATS on “Asthma disparities: A global perspective”
The GAN Steering Group is busy preparing for the Global Asthma Report (GAR) 2014 which will be modelled on the GAR 2011 http://www.globalasthmareport.org/. This will be ready in time for United Nations 2014 Non Communicable Disease Review (UN 2014 NCD Review).
We are finalising protocols for surveillance and will let you know when these are ready.
The GAN website is regularly updated, and we always welcome contributions and suggestions. In addition to the work on GAN, the existing ISAAC website will continue to be maintained by Eamon Ellwood and publications added as they are published.
We are very heartened with the development of GAN so far and very pleased with the number of centres worldwide enrolling.
On behalf of the Global Asthma Network Executive I wish you a very happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.
Innes
Professor Innes Asher ONZM
Chair of GAN
| Africa | Asia-Pacific | Latin America & Caribbean | Northern and Eastern Europe |
| Burkina Faso | Taiwan | Chile | Turkey |
| Bobo-Dioulasso | Taipei | Valdivia | Ankara |
| Cameroon | Tainan | Colombia | |
| Douala | Thailand | Cali | Oceania |
| Yaounde | Bangkok | Bogota | Australia |
| Ethiopia | Chantaburi | Barranquilla | Sydney |
| Addis Ababa | Chiang Mai | Bucaramanga | Newcastle |
| Mekelle | Khon Kaen | Costa Rica | Adelaide |
| Gambia | Vietnam | Costa Rica | Brisbane |
| The Gambia | Ho Chi Minh | Ecuador | French Polynesia |
| Ghana | Quito | Polynésie française | |
| Kumasi | Eastern Mediterranean | Guayaquil | New Caledonia |
| Accra | Iran | Esmeraldas | Nouvelle-Calédonie |
| Kenya | Ahwaz | El Salvador | New Zealand |
| Eldoret | Yazd | San Salvador | Auckland |
| Nairobi | Tehran | Mexico | Wellington |
| Malawi | Rasht | Monterrey | Otago |
| Blantyre | Birjand | Ciudad de Mexico | Hawke's Bay |
| Nigeria | Bushehr | Guadalajara | Waikato |
| Ibadan | Zanjan | Mexicali Valley | Christchurch |
| Ife | Jordan | Villahermosa | Bay of Plenty |
| Lagos | Amman | San Luis Potosí | Northland |
| Maiduguri | Jerash | Querétaro | Marlborough |
| Kano | Kuwait | Nicaragua | Niue |
| Gusau | Kuwait | Matagalpa | Niue Island |
| Enugu | Malta | Panama | Samoa |
| Senegal | Malta | Panamá City | Apia |
| Dakar | Pakistan | David-Panamá | Tokelau |
| Sierra Leone | Islamabad | Peru | Tokelau |
| Freetown | Palestine | Lima | Tonga |
| South Africa | Ramallah | Tumbes | Nuku'alofa |
| Polokwane | North Gaza | Puno | Tuvalu |
| Cape Town | Saudi Arabia | Uruguay | Funafuti |
| Ekurhuleni | Abha | Montevideo | Vanuatu |
| Pretoria | Alkhobar | Port Vila | |
| Sudan | Madinah | North America | |
| Khartoum | Riyadh | Canada | Western Europe |
| Gadarif | Oman | Ontario | Austria |
| Uganda | Al-Khod | Vancouver | Salzburg |
| Kampala | Syrian Arab Republic | Saskatoon | Urfahr-umgebung |
| Zambia | Lattakia | United States | Belgium |
| Lusaka | United Arab Emirates | North Carolina | Antwerp |
| Egypt | Sharjah | Fort Wayne | Channel Islands |
| Cairo | Madison | Guernsey | |
| Alexandria | Indian Subcontinent | Seattle | France |
| Algeria | India | Chicago | Marseille |
| Algiers | Kottayam | Metropolitan Detroit | Bordeaux |
| Bab El Oued | New Delhi | West Marne | |
| Blida | Chandigarh | Northern and Eastern Europe | Créteil |
| Benin | Bikaner | Albania | Germany |
| Cotonou | Jaipur | Tiranë | Munich |
| Sèmè Podji | Chennai | Armenia | Greece |
| Congo Dem Rep | Mumbai (2 centres) | Yerevan | Athens |
| Kinshasa | Lucknow | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Thessaloniki |
| Libya | Orissa | Prijedor | Ireland |
| Tripoli | Kolkata (2 centres) | Bulgaria | Ireland |
| Mali | Vellore | Sofia | Italy |
| Bamako | Bangalore | Georgia | Roma |
| Reunion Island | Aligarh | Tbilisi | Palermo |
| Reunion Island | Bijapur | Kutaisi | Florence |
| Togo | Bangladesh | Hungary | Trento |
| Lome | Dhaka | Szeged | Ascoli Piceno |
| Tunisia | Sri Lanka | Kosovo | Empoli |
| Ariana | Colombo | Prishtina | Netherlands |
| Tunis | Peradeniya | Latvia | Utrecht |
| Riga | Portugal | ||
| Asia-Pacific | Latin America & Caribbean | Macedonia | Lisboa |
| Brunei | Argentina | Skopje | Spain |
| Brunei | Buenos Aires | Norway | Cartagena |
| Hong Kong | Mendoza | Oslo | Barcelona |
| Hong Kong | Salta | Tromsø | Castellón |
| China | Bolivia | Poland | San sebastián |
| Beijing | Santa Cruz | Krakow (1995) | La Coruña |
| Hefei | Brasil | Poznan | Valencia |
| Tayuan | Sao Paulo South | Romania | Sevilla |
| Indonesia | Porto Alegre | Cluj-Napoca | Cádiz |
| Bandung | Recife | Russia | Asturias |
| Japan | Belo Horizonte | Novosibirsk | Bilbao |
| Fukuoka | Rio de Janeiro | Tomsk | Málaga |
| Tochigi | Brasília | Serbia | Madrid |
| Korea, South | Passo Fundo | Belgrade | United Kingdom |
| Seoul | Maceió | Novi Sad | Birmingham |
| Philippines | Curitiba | Indjija | |
| Metro Manila | Feira de Santana | Ukraine | |
| Singapore | Santo André | Kharkiv | |
| Singapore | Pelotas | Rural Kharkiv |
The Global Asthma Network website is intended to be the main channel for the dissemination of information. It includes information of use to collaborators in the Global Asthma Network, such as upcoming conferences and symposiums, asthma management guidelines and the latest asthma related news.
The website will be continuously updated in the coming year to include tools and information to support our Asthma Surveillance research.
The precursor activity leading to the Global Asthma Network was the Global Asthma Report 2011. After two years it is still being accessed regularly around the world.
The Global Asthma Network is on Twitter. All Global Asthma Network tweets are included as an extension of the news section. News items are tweeted, as well as pertinent Asthma related information.
Once the Surveillance study is underway we will include a facebook page as another way for investigators to keep in contact with and support each other.
A Wikipedia page is also in the process of being drafted. It will follow the format of the existing ISAAC Wikipedia page.
Our network has been targeted by an email scam. If you receive any unusual requests for assistance from any of the steering group members, please ignore it.
These emails are a common scam that has also targeted many other organisations. Please note we will never make any request for financial assistance from our collaborators. If you have any questions please contact us at info@globalasthmanetwork.org
All material © Global Asthma Network