FRESH AIR international research programme
Collaborating internationally to address the problem of lung disease
The University of Plymouth is leading on several projects within the FRESH AIR programme including the pulmonary rehabilitation projects in remote settings, starting in mountain villages in Crete with aims to progress to remote high altitude nomadic communities in Kyrgyz Republic and rural communities in Vietnam.
There is also a project evaluating an education programme for midwives in rural Uganda to deliver improving pregnancy outcomes and child health in the first six months of life.
The project teaches people about the dangers of biomass smoke from cooking fires, from kerosene lamps and other sources, including tobacco smoking.
Professor Rupert Jones is leading a team of Plymouth researchers within an international collaboration in a range of studies addressing the problem of chronic lung disease in resource-poor settings.
Who is involved?
The University of Plymouth, UK
- Dr Rupert Jones (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry)
- Sanne van Kampen (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry)
- Jill Pooler (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry)
- Lucy Cartwright (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry)
- Andy Barton (Research Design Service)
- Lynne Callaghan (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry)
- Michael Hyland (School of Psychology).
Makerere University, Uganda
- Dr Bruce Kirenga and team
University of Groningen, Holland
- Dr Frederik van Gemert
- Professor Niels Chavannes.
The Breathe Again Africa Project
A crowd-funded project to build a pulmonary rehabilitation centre in Kampala to treat people with chronic lung disease without using drugs.
With chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) now the third leading cause of death in the world, and a rising prevalence in Africa, now is the time to put the research into pulmonary rehabilitation into practice.
Find out more about the Project and how you can support a life-giving programme today.
Posters
Conferences
Publications
Pledge your support
Posters
These posters were presented at the European Respiratory Society Annual International Conference in London, 2016.
- Dr Jill Pooler presented ‘Adapting and implementing very brief advice on smoking to save lives in low and middle income countries’ at the IPCRG World Conference, Porto, Portugal, 31 May–2 June 2018
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘The 5 steps leaflet: A patient guide to managing their COPD developed in the FRESH AIR programme’ at the IPCRG World Conference, Porto, Portugal, 31 May–2 June 2018
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘Implementing of pulmonary rehabilitation in Vietnam, preliminary results’ at the IPCRG World Conference, Porto, Portugal, 31 May–2 June 2018
- Dr Sanne van Kampen presented ‘International research and guidelines on post-tuberculosis chronic lung disease: a systematic scoping review’ at the IPCRG World Conference, Porto, Portugal, 31 May–2 June 2018
- Lucy Cartwright presented ‘An implementation strategy for a midwife-led education programme of biomass smoke reduction among pregnant women and postnatal mothers in Uganda’ at the IPCRG World Conference, Porto, Portugal, 31 May–2 June 2018
- Dr Jill Pooler presented ‘Very brief advice on smoking saves lives, but does it work in low and middle-income countries?’ at the PATS and SATS Congress, Durban, South Africa, 12–15 April 2018
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘Database studies in Uganda - an opportunity for global research where chronic lung disease matters’ at the 2018 REG Summit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 22–24 March 2018
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘Quantitative evaluation of the implementation of a pulmonary rehabilitation programme in rural Crete’ at the SAPC Conference, Plymouth, UK, 13–14 March 2018
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘The development and implementation of a lung health programme for community health workers in the rural district Masindi of Uganda’ at the IPCRG South Asian Scientific Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3–5 August 2017
- Dr Jill Pooler presented ’30 minutes to save a life – Very Brief Advice on Smoking’ at the IPCRG South Asian Scientific Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3–5 August 2017
- Dr Rupert Jones presented a poster ‘A development study of pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with chronic lung disease in Uganda’ at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health, Liverpool, UK, 26–29 Oct 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘The development of a lung health awareness-raising programme in Masindi province, Uganda’ at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health, Liverpool, UK, 26–29 Oct 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented a poster ‘A development study of pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with chronic lung disease in Uganda’ at the ERS International Congress, London, UK, 3–7 September 2016
- Dr Jill Pooler presented a poster ‘A qualitative study on the development of a pulmonary rehabilitation programme for patients with chronic lung disease in Kampala, Uganda’ at the ERS International Congress, London, UK, 3–7 September 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented an invited lecture ‘Silent killer on the rise – addressing the causes and treatment of lung disease in Africa’ at the Derriford Hospital Research Day, 17 June 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘Rapid Assessment of the Demand and Supply of Tobacco Dependence Pharmacotherapy in Uganda’ at the IPCRG 8th World Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 25–28 May 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented an invited lecture ‘Implementing Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Low Resource Settings’ at the IPCRG 8th World Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 25–28 May 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘Lessons from designing and implementing pulmonary rehabilitation in Kampala’ at the IPCRG 8th World Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 25–28 May 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones designed and presented a poster ‘Training Community Health Workers in Rural Uganda to Introduce Stop Smoking Interventions in a Context of a Lung Health Awareness Campaign’ at the Global Tobacco Dependence Treatment Summit, Minnesota, USA, 23–24 May 2016
- Dr Jill Pooler presented ‘Qualitative findings on the implementation of pulmonary rehabilitation in Kampala’ at the PATS Congress, Nairobi, Kenya, 9–12 April 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘The development and implementation of a Lung Health programme for rural Uganda addressing biomass and tobacco smoke’ at the PATS Congress, Nairobi, Kenya, 9–12 April 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones provided a teaching seminar ‘COPD in Africa’ to the Junior Doctors’ respiratory training at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, 16 January 2016
- Dr Rupert Jones presented an invited lecture ‘Research in COPD in UK and Africa’ at the British Lung Foundation South West Regional Meeting, 15 September 2015
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘An exploratory trial to test the impact of training midwives to deliver biomass smoke reduction on exposures, pregnancy outcome and infant health’ at the IPCRG 4th Scientific Meeting, Singapore, 28-30 May 2015
- Dr Rupert Jones took a teaching seminar ‘Chronic respiratory disease in Africa: a neglected problem’ at the University of Plymouth as part of the Community and Primary Care Research Group seminar series, 15 April 2015
- Dr Rupert Jones lead a workshop ‘Why do we need quality indicators in pulmonary rehabilitation?’ at Lungerehabiliteringskonferansen, Oslo, Norway, 15 January 2015
- Dr Rupert Jones presented an invited lecture ‘Rehabilitation in primary care – criteria for success and failure’ at Lungerehabiliteringskonferansen, Oslo, Norway, 15 January 2015
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘A pilot study of pulmonary rehabilitation in post tuberculosis patients in Uganda' at the IPCRG 7th World Conference, Athens, Greece, 21–24 May 2014
- Dr Rupert Jones presented ‘Prevalence of COPD in a rural area of a sub-Saharan country: FRESH AIR Uganda’ at the IPCRG 3rd Scientific Meeting, Uppsala, Sweden, 23–24 May 2013
Publications
Jones R, Kirenga B, Buteme S, Williams S, van Gemert F. A novel lung health programme addressing awareness and behaviour change aiming to prevent chronic respiratory diseases in rural Uganda: a two-year train-the-trainer programme.African Journal of Respiratory Medicine. 2019: In press.
Nantanda R, Buteme S, van Kampen S, Cartwright L, Pooler J, Barton A, Callaghan L, Mirembe J, Ndeezi G, Tumwine J, Kirenga B & Jones R. Feasibility and acceptability of a midwife-led education strategy to reduce exposure to biomass smoke among pregnant women in Uganda: A FRESH project. Global Public Health. 2019. DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1642931
Philip K, Akylbekov A, Stambaeva B, Sooronbaev T, Jones R. Music, Dance and Harmonicas for People with COPD. Respiratory Care. 2019;64(3):359 doi.org/10.4187/respcare.06701
Van Kampen S, Jones R, Kisembo H, Houben R, Wei Y, Mugabe F, Rutebemberwa E, Kirenga B. Chronic respiratory symptoms and lung abnormalities among young people with a history of tuberculosis in Uganda: a national survey. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2018;68(11):1919-1925.doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciy795
Van Kampen S, Wanner A, Edwards M, Harries A, Kirenga B, Chakaya J, Jones R. International research and guidelines on post-tuberculosis chronic lung disorders: a systematic scoping review. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2018;3;e000745. dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2018-000745.
Jones R, Muyinda H, Nyakoojo G, Kirenga B, Katagira W, Pooler J. Does pulmonary rehabilitation alter patients’ experiences of living with chronic respiratory disease? A qualitative study. International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. 2018; 13(2375-2385). doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S165623
Siddharthan T, Grigsby MR, Goodman D, et al. Association between Household Air Pollution Exposure and Chronis Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Outcomes in 13 Low- and Middle-Income Country Settings. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2018;197(5):611-620 http://dx.doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201709-1861OC
Jones R. The scale of the problem of obstructive lung disease in Africa becomes clearer, but where are the solutions? European Respiratory Journal. 2018;51(2):ARTN 1702562. http://dx.doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02562-2017
Jones R, Kirenga B, Katagira W, et al. A pre-post intervention study of pulmonary rehabilitation for adults with post-tuberculosis lung disease in Uganda. International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. 2017;12:3533-3539. http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S146659
Jones R, Price D, Chavannes N, et al. Multi-component assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: an evaluation of the ADO and DOSE indices and the global obstructive lung disease categories in international primary care data sets. njp Primary Care Respiratory Medicine. 2016; 26(16010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjpcrm.2016.10
Kirenga B, Jones R, Muhofa A, Nyakoojo G, Williams S. Rapid assessment of the demand and supply of tobacco dependence pharmacotherapy in Uganda. Public Health Action. 2016;6(1):35-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.5588/pha.15.0070
van Gemert F, Chavannes N, Kirenga B, et al. Socioeconomic factors, gender and smoking as determinants of COPD in a low-income country of sub-Saharan Africa: FRESH AIR Uganda. Primary Care Respiratory Medicine. 2016;26(1):ARTN 16050. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjpcrm.2016.50
Van Gemert F, Kirenga B, Chavannes N, et al. Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and associated risk factors in Uganda (FRESH AIR Uganda): a prospective cross-sectional observational study. The Lancet Global Health. 2015;3(1):e44-e51. http://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70337-7
Van Gemert F, Van der Molen T, Jones R, Chavannes N. The impact of asthma and COPD in sub-Saharan Africa. Primary Care Respiratory Journal. 2011;20(3):240-248. http://doi.org/10.4104/pcrj.2011.00027
Our projects
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FRESH AIR: Horizon 2020
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Prevalence of COPD and associated risk factors in Uganda
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Pulmonary rehabilitation in Uganda
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Global Bridges: lung health prevention and awareness
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The Midwife Project in Uganda
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Very Brief Advice smoking cessation
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Pulmonary rehabilitation in Crete, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan
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RECHARGE
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Kupumua
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Teaching resources
Project media
“I was feeling weak all the time. I couldn’t sleep, I could do nothing at home and I didn’t know what to do. As I went through the programme I realised that it was a real medicine to my health. I feel strong, stronger than before, and I can now stay longer at the place of work. I am so happy and I appreciate the directors of this programme.” – patient's account
Find out more about the great work taking place and discover why we still need your help here.
