Contributions from leading experts

Editorials are a core part of the Respiratory Health Initiative (RHI) 2026 activities. Published monthly, each editorial focuses on a key theme within respiratory health and features contributions from leading experts across primary care, respiratory medicine, tobacco control, public health policy, academia, and patient advocacy. The series brings together global, regional, and country-level perspectives, combining strategic insight with grounded examples from practice and implementation. Together, they form a coherent body of work with a shared purpose: strengthening access to better respiratory health by improving the availability and use of data to inform policy and drive real-world change.
Grounded in available indicators and regional or global examples, they examine how policies are designed, implemented, and experienced in practice, with attention to gaps between ambition and reality. A consistent thread across the series is that there is no single “best practice” model, countries operate within distinct contexts, yet can learn from one another’s approaches, trade-offs, and challenges. By bringing in diverse system perspectives, including patient experience, the editorials highlight how different models function in practice and where opportunities exist to improve equity, access, and outcomes in respiratory health.