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Hakan Yaman (Turkey):

What do you think are the special issues and challenges in treating children with asthma? Do they vary by age?

One challenge is to keep children adherent to the medication. Another challenge is to see the patient regularly. Of course, lack of time for education and lack of community resources are other problems.

What questions do parents/carers and patients ask of you?

They are of course very worried about the asthma. They ask for information. Is it going to last very long? Will the child outgrow this problem after a certain period? They sometimes have certain ideas about asthma; they come to the office after reading articles or the encyclopaedia. And what is the impact of this problem on the children?

Which in your opinion are the top three problems children and parents/careers face in managing asthma in daily life?

For the parents, anxiety about the health of the children and certainly about being successful in getting the children to take the medication.
For the children, the feeling of being handicapped with peers and at school, of being different-the stigmatization in society, at school, with friends.
Proper diagnosis and treatment. Parents and children are going to the physician, they are spending money, they are buying medicines, but it's the wrong medication and the wrong diagnosis. So we need the doctor to be up to the mark.