The number of Asthma deaths has risen by 30 per cent in a year across Australia. It is the biggest number of causalities caused by the respiratory illness in a decade. But grieving families fear they will never find out what triggered their loved one’s deaths.
00:00Yeah, I like that one there, she's very relaxed.
00:07It's been five months since Ashley Young's life was cut short following an asthma attack.
00:11The Adelaide woman was a trailblazer in women's sport and was just 31 when she died.
00:16Ashley just wasn't my daughter, she was my best friend and we did everything together.
00:24She would ring me every day.
00:26She was just a wonderful person that was taken too soon and so incredibly missed.
00:35No, I never thought she would die from an asthma attack.
00:40We worked on it for 31 years, we did everything to keep her alive.
00:45Her parents say they're struggling to find closure, with doctors unable to pinpoint what triggered her final attack.
00:51They can't provide us with a reason for it happening, it's just something that's come out of the blue.
00:58She used to manage her asthma really well.
01:03According to Asthma Australia, there were 467 asthma deaths in 2022, with last year's statistics not yet released.
01:11It's the highest number of deaths in 10 years, and it's killing more women than men, but it's been difficult to determine why.
01:17The most interesting thing is how did they get to that state or place where their lungs were so badly impacted by asthma?
01:24And that can come down to individual factors.
01:27South Australia had the highest mortality rate in the last recording period, followed by Western Australia and Queensland.
01:33However, the South Australian state government has come under fire for being one of the only jurisdictions to not fund the country's peak asthma body.
01:40There is some really important work we need to do here.
01:42A South Australian health department spokesperson says while no funding arrangements are currently in place,
01:47they remain committed partners with Asthma Australia to improve health outcomes of people living with asthma.
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