Search

In the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, overuse of oral corticosteroids (OCS) for asthma management, both as burst and maintenance therapy, poses a significant challenge. Gaps in knowledge regarding the need to taper OCS in patients with severe asthma and the use of OCS in comorbid conditions have been noted. OCS stewardship can help attain optimal and effective OCS tapering along with reducing OCS overuse and over-reliance. In this paper, we discuss current practices regarding the use of OCS in asthma, globally and in the MEA region. Expert recommendations for achieving OCS stewardship in the MEA region have also been presented. Regional experts recommend increasing awareness among patients about the consequences of OCS overuse, engaging community pharmacists, and educating primary healthcare professionals about the benefits of prompt appropriate referral. Innovative local referral tools like ReferID can be utilized to refer patients with asthma to specialist care. The experts also endorse a multidisciplinary team approach and accelerating access to newer medicines like biologics to implement OCS stewardship and optimize asthma care in the MEA region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: MAA received advisory board and lecture honoraria from AstraZeneca, Sanofi, and GSK. AAZ received honoraria from GSK, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, and Novartis. HAA received speaker honoraria from AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., Inc., Servier Laboratories, and Menarini; received support for attending meetings and traveling from Cipla Ltd., and Servier Laboratories. MI received honoraria for lectures and support for attending meetings from AstraZeneca., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Human inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a group of 485 distinct genetic disorders affecting children and adults. Signs and symptoms of IEI are heterogeneous, and accurate diagnosis can be challenging and depends on the available human expertise and laboratory resources. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has an increased prevalence of IEI because of the high rate of consanguinity with a predominance of autosomal recessive disorders. This area also exhibits more severe disease phenotypes compared with other regions, probably due to the delay in diagnosis. The MENA-IEI registry network has designed protocols and guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of IEI, taking into consideration the variable regional expertise and resources. These guidelines are primarily meant to improve the care of patients within the region, but can also be followed in other regions with similar patient populations., (Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. All rights reserved.)