When it's hard to breathe: The top five respiratory diseases

An X-ray of a TB patient’s lungs. Deaths due to TB rose for the first time in 10 years during the Covid-19 pandemic. — Filepic

Breathing is one of those things that you don’t really think about until you’re unable to do so.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a jarring reminder of the importance of lung health, especially during the early days when the public went on a very steep learning curve on various respiratory issues – from the importance of wearing face masks to prevent respiratory infections, to the use of ventilators when the lungs fail.