A group of doctors and scientists from the University of Nottingham and the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre are teaming up with researchers in Nepal to tackle a major public health problem in the country – chronic lung disease.
Nepal is a low income country in the Himalayas but despite global perceptions of clean mountain air, it is one of the most polluted environments in the world and there is a high level of respiratory disease among its 30 million people.
In the capital city, Kathmandu, poor lung health is largely caused by smoking tobacco, and exposure to pollution from traffic and industry. However, more than 80% of the country’s population lives in rural areas of Nepal where a major cause of lung disease is the use of cooking stoves that burn biomass in poorly ventilated homes.
The Nottingham team of respiratory specialists, public health experts and engineers have won a £238,000 grant from the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund to work with Nepalese doctors, health professionals and development leaders .Their task is to define, design and test practical interventions that could help to reduce the burden of chronic lung disease in the country.
The project is led jointly by two Nottingham-based chest physicians, Professor Ian Hall and Professor Charlotte Bolton