Pulmonary Rehabilitation in UgandaPulmonary Rehabilitation in Uganda – a life-giving programme for people with chronic lung diseasePulmonary Rehabilitation in Uganda

A unique film funded by the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) that explains the amazing improvements a programme of exercise and education called Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) can bring to people’s health and quality of life in Uganda. It follows the introduction of the programme led by Dr Rupert Jones and Dr Bruce Kirenga to people who are breathless having been exposed to tobacco smoke, smoke from indoor cooking, kerosene lamps or work exposures or TB. The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development, UK Government and conducted by Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Makerere University College of Health Sciences Lung Institute. The original pilot was funded by the IPCRG. The work is being extended to other breathless people with chronic lung disease in Uganda, Crete, Kyrgyz Republic and Viet Nam in a project called FRESH AIR, see theipcrg.org/freshair or Twitter FRESHAIRTeam It gives a message of hope, demonstrating the value of a low cost programme that can be delivered anywhere once a local team is trained.