World Asthma Day 2026

The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) theme for World Asthma Day 2026 is: “Access to anti-inflammatory inhalers for everyone with asthma – still an urgent need”.

GINA continues to emphasize the need to ensure that all people with asthma can access inhaled medications that are essential for controlling the underlying disease and treating attacks.

This year’s World Asthma Day theme reinforces that every person with asthma, including most pre-school children with asthma, should receive inhaled corticosteroids. These inhalers reduce the person’s risk of asthma attacks and reduce preventable asthma deaths.

Preferably, the inhaler should be a combination 2‑in‑1 inhaler containing both an inhaled corticosteroid and a quick-acting reliever. Together, they treat the asthma symptoms, prevent asthma attacks, and reduce hospital admissions.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic non-communicable diseases that affects over 260 million people. Asthma is responsible for over 450,000 deaths each year worldwide. Most of these deaths are preventable.

Asthma attacks cause great distress for sufferers, their families and their careers. Asthma attacks may result in hospital admission and, in some cases, death.

Asthma attacks involve obstruction of the air passages in the lungs which reduces the ability of the person to inhale life sustaining oxygen into the body. The airway obstruction is caused by spasm and tightening of the airway muscles, and inflammation which causes both swelling of the walls of the air passages and mucus or phlegm blocking the airways.

The short-acting bronchodilator relievers (salbutamol, albuterol, terbutaline, SABAs) only relieve the spasm and tightening of the muscles in the air passages but inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications prevent asthma attacks by treating the underlying inflammation that causes asthma. Inhaled corticosteroids are essential for treating and controlling asthma!

Doctors and allied health care professionals are called upon to ensure that all people with asthma, including most pre-school children with asthma, are prescribed evidence-based, essential, inhaled corticosteroid-containing medication. These should be prescribed in addition to, or in combination with, reliever medication, to prevent the continuing avoidable morbidity and mortality from asthma.

In low-middle-income countries, lack of availability or high cost of inhaled medicines, especially inhaled corticosteroid-containing inhalers, are major contributors to the fact that many attacks and 96% of global asthma deaths occur in these countries.

Even in high income countries, high costs can mean that many people with asthma have limited access to essential inhaled medicines, resulting in poorly controlled asthma and preventable asthma deaths.

Policy makers, governments, payers, and pharmaceutical industry manufacturers and suppliers are called upon to ensure inhaled corticosteroids are affordable and available for all those with asthma.

We call on everyone to increase their efforts to ensure “Access to anti-inflammatory inhalers for everyone with asthma”, in all countries throughout the world. See www.ginasthma.org/reports

Note: minor edits have been made to the original text about World Asthma Day 2026, to emphasize that inhaled corticosteroids are recommended by GINA for the majority of pre-school children with asthma, as well as for all adults, adolescents and children aged 6 years and older with asthma.

ERS & GINA Panel discussion: What’s new in GINA 2026?

May 5, 2026 | Online
17:00 – 18:00 CEST

Topics include an overview of GINA 2026, updates in severe and acute asthma, pediatric asthma management and practical implementation.

Chairs: Prof. Omar S. Usmani (London, United Kingdom), Prof. Guy Brusselle (Ghent, Belgium), Prof. Florence Schleich (Liège, Belgium)
Speakers: Prof. Helen Reddel (Sydney, Australia), Prof. Arnaud Bourdin (Montpellier, France), Prof. Francine Ducharme (Montréal (QC), Canada)
Fees: Free for ERS members / €10 for non-members – to take part in this event, you must register in advance.

Graphics:

These graphics may be downloaded, printed, and distributed in accordance with your World Asthma Day celebrations.

Activities:

Send us information about your World Asthma Day 2026 activity to post on this site!

SUBMIT YOUR ACTIVITY Activity Ideas – World Asthma Day

About World Asthma Day:

World Asthma Day is held on the first Tuesday in May. Each year GINA chooses a theme and coordinates preparation and distribution of World Asthma Day materials and resources. GINA also maintains the World Asthma Day Internet Headquarters, where materials and resources are posted for downloading and a complete listing of activities around the world is constantly updated.

The first World Asthma Day, in 1998, was celebrated in more than 35 countries in conjunction with the first World Asthma Meeting held in Barcelona, Spain. Participation has increased with each World Asthma Day held since then, and the day has become one of the world’s most important asthma awareness and education events.

World Asthma Day 2025:

You can view all of the World Asthma Day 2025 activities submitted to GINA, from all over the world. View them HERE.