Breathe easy with new pump

UNIVERSITY of Cape Town engineers have designed an asthma device to improve the quality of life for sufferers.

With World Asthma Day yesterday, the university said it was important to raise awareness of the widespread condition that is often under-diagnosed, not treated properly and has the possibility to limit activities for a lifetime.

Asthma claims the lives of 58 500 South Africans each year and there are 3.9 million people who live with the disease. UCT said about 10% of adults and 20% of children suffered from asthma and the country has the fourth-highest, asthma-related death toll in the world. The university said asthma devices that were on the market were difficult to use. The elderly and children were unable to activate the pumps due to the force required to release the medicine, it said.

The new device, called “The Easy Squeezy”, is an attachment sleeve that fits over a standard inhaler which reduces the force required to activate it by about twothirds, making it manageable for most children and elderly. It also indicates how many doses remain.

The head of the division of asthma and allergy at UCT, Associate-Professor Mike Levin said the idea came from watching his patients and daughter having difficulty using their pumps.

“We spend a lot of time counselling patients about the importance of using their pumps every day with the best possible technique, and often blame them when they don’t. But what if they are trying, but can’t get it right?” asked Levin.

The new device is designed to help from the age of 5 up.

Associate Professor Sudesh Sivarasu said: “We have designed the sleeve to be similar to a Lego toy collectible. It’s somewhat of a ‘build-your-own’ asthma pump.”