Get set for National Asthma Week 2026

National Asthma Week is 1 to 7 September 2026 and the NAC is continuing to promote the updated Australian Asthma Handbook guidelines, helping ensure health professionals, people with asthma, and their families and carers are aware of the latest changes.

The new guidelines recommend against prescribing treatment with as-needed short-acting beta2 agonists (SABA) alone to manage asthma in adults and adolescents.   

Key messages include:

• Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition.
• 2.8 million, or 1 in 9 people in Australia, have asthma.
• Annual Australian Bureau of Statistics data commissioned by the National Asthma Council last year revealed there were 478 asthma deaths in Australia in 2024, consisting of 322 females and 156 males.
• Asthma was a leading cause of disease burden in children aged 5 to 14 years in 2024.
• Asthma guidelines have changed.
• Using a blue puffer alone is not enough to manage your asthma.
• Treat the inflammation, not just the symptoms.
• Anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) therapy is the recommended starting treatment for asthma.
• Maintenance-and-reliever therapy (MART) is recommended for patients who need maintenance treatment.

National Asthma Week kit

Use the link below to access a range of social media assets and a poster. Messages can be adapted to suit your audience and please remember to tag the National Asthma Council so we can like and share your posts.

Access National Asthma Week assets.