Global Airway Health Day
ABOUT FOUNDATION FOR AIRWAY HEALTH AND GLOBAL AIRWAY HEALTH DAY
Founded in 2012, the Foundation for Airway Health (FAH) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of Airway-Centered Disorder (ACD) to the general public, healthcare practitioners and the healthcare industry. Through its initiatives, FAH seeks to highlight the role airways play in overall health and well-being for all and educate clinicians to recognize this role and the importance of optimal airway physiology and sleep in the areas of health, development, performance and function. FAH also serves to help the public realize their maximum potential by championing the recognition, diagnosis and treatment of airway-related disorders through collaboration, awareness, research and education.
ACD is a structural and physiological condition of the mouth, jaw, nasal passages, tongue, or throat that involves an obstruction of the upper airways, which can affect breathing 24 hours a day – including and especially during sleep. ACD impacts how we breathe because it increases the amount of effort we put into breathing just to survive. ACD is the “hidden” airway problem. It is often not recognized, and therefore, expressed as other chronic health, developmental, educational, or performance issues. When not recognized, the expressions of the ACD are treated and the underlying disorder remains – to be expressed yet again in another form. Additionally, ACD is a disorder that can affect all of us. While often associated with older, obese men, ACD or other manifestations of poor airway health can be present in infants, children, teens, young adults, and slender women.
