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Allergies Will Cost MENA Region $2.5b

DUBAI - Allergies can cost the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over $2.5 billion each year in direct medical costs, time off work and sluggish productivity, according to a new report.

Based on an economic costs study released on Thursday at the Middle East-Asia Allergy Asthma Immunology Congress (MEAAAIC), Professor Ruby Pawankar, treasurer of the World Allergy Organisation (WAO) and Chair of the Dubai event, says allergies affect, on average, one in eight people across 
the region.

The Middle East-Asia Allergy Asthma Immunology Congress will conclude on March 29.

“Although precise costs for the MENA region are not well documented, based on the total per-patient costs, including productivity costs, for asthma alone in Asia Pacific, the estimated cost in the MENA region for asthma and rhinitis alone could be over $2.5 billion per year in direct medical costs, lost productivity, absenteeism and lower employment,” adds Professor Pawankar.

According to her, another $2 billion can be added to this cost if a dollar value is placed on loss of well-being and premature death.

“For the 50 million people affected by allergies, the greatest financial burden falls on young working adults and their children, who end up paying half the associated costs,” she warned.

The updated figures were extrapolated from ‘The Asthma Insights and Reality’ in the Asia-Pacific survey of urban centres in eight countries. The economic burden in the Asia-Pacific region was much higher than that in the United States in relation to the per capita gross domestic product (13 per cent against 2 per cent) and per capita health care spending (300 per cent against 12 per cent). Applying these figures to the MENA region, which has approximately 50 million people affected by allergies at an estimated cost of $500 per person per year, the total cost of allergies is estimated at $2.5 billion per year.

Dr Bassam Mahboub, vice-president of the UAE Respiratory Society and local chair of MEAAAIC, said: “This news will be an urgent wake-up call to MENA governments to place allergic disease higher on its healthcare priorities, to invest heavily in training and research, and ease the financial burden on allergic patients.”

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com