In 2022
10 million views of our expert health information
17,000 people received support from our Helpline team
£3 million invested in funding for vital lung health research
Our achievements in... Support
Your support empowers millions of people affected by asthma and lung conditions. We give you the latest advice, knowledge and support you need to help you manage your condition.
Helpline
Last year our dedicated Helpline team supported over 34,000 people, providing the latest advice, support and reassurance to help people manage their condition.
So far this year our dedicated WhatsApp messaging service offered vital support for over 7,000 people living with asthma, their family, carers and healthcare professionals.
Web community
Our Health Unlocked web community connects over 18,500 people affected by asthma and over 50,000 people affected by lung conditions so they can share information and support about how to manage and live with their condition.
Health advice
We provide free up-to-date expert information to help people live well with their asthma. Last year, 15 million people used our website to get health information.
Support groups
In the last year, we have helped more than 500 people through our online and face-to-face support groups helping people to manage their lung conditions, get support from others experiencing a lung condition, boost their mental health and combat loneliness.
We want to make sure no-one faces a lung condition alone. Every day, our dedicated team ensure that people with lung conditions have the advice, knowledge and support they need now and in the future.
Our achievements in… Research
We leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding a treatment, cure or a better way to diagnose lung disease.
Over the last 40 years we have invested more than £100m in research funding, awarding more than 1000 research grants into lung conditions including asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, mesothelioma and interstitial lung disease. We have worked with the most prestigious research institutions and universities, and the greatest respiratory research minds, in the UK.
Our research has saved lives through better treatment for pneumonia in children, improved the lives of people with COPD through better treatments to help people recover after a hospital stay; and helped to successfully combat lung conditions from an early age by revolutionising the diagnosis of lung problems in pre-school children.
Our asthma research has helped to deliver life-saving treatment for people with severe asthma, pioneered the use of new drugs called ‘leukotrienes’ and resulted in better use of immunotherapy to treat people’s allergies to grass pollen.
We’ve also made a huge contribution to fighting COVID-19. Research we co-funded has determined which tests should be used to detect the virus. It’s also helped us to predict which types of people are most at risk from COVID-19 and who is least likely to get vaccinated, helping to target public health messaging as effectively as possible.
Since I began working in bronchiectasis, I’ve done everything I possibly can to raise the profile of the disease and to bring new investigators and scientists into the field. It’s so exciting to see the progress we’re achieving and it's only thanks to the generous donations of Asthma + Lung UK supporters.
Our achievements in… Campaigning
We campaign on behalf of millions of people with lung conditions to improve care for people with lung conditions.
Our campaigning has led to real improvements – changing the law so that children with asthma can access emergency inhalers in school, making it illegal to smoke in cars with children and tackling air pollution so the government has to meet stricter clean air targets.
We have campaigned for life-changing asthma drugs such as dupilumab and tezepilumab to be approved and available for people with the severest form of asthma, transforming thousands of people’s lives.
Lung health is starting to be prioritised by government more than before – supporting people with lung conditions to get early diagnosis and access timely treatments is now in NHS England’s long-term plan for the first time ever and the government has committed to reduce the numbers of people living with or dying from lung disease in the next 10 years.
Up and down the country hundreds of our campaigners are demanding a better and cleaner future for their children, raising their voices to tackle the toxic pollution in their communities.
Thousands of you have signed our petitions over the years – from inhalers in schools, life-changing drugs to bolder clean air laws – together we’ve achieved amazing things. Now is the time to ramp up the pressure. Together, we can raise our voices and demand the change needed from policy makers.
I relied on steroids to stabilise my condition, but the side effects were unbearable. I would be on steroids for less than a week and put on half a stone in weight. The changes in my mood were so intense and horrible I’m surprised my husband stuck by me.
That’s all changed since I started on biologic drugs. I noticed a huge improvement almost immediately. It’s not an exaggeration to say this medication has been lifechanging.