The demand for action came on the first annual World COPD Day.

More than 2.75 million people worldwide are killed by the fatal disease each year, and the number is still rising.

COPD is a devastating disease that progressively restricts a person's ability to breathe.

It is a term that is used for two closely related diseases of the respiratory system: chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Most patients with the disease have a long history of heavy cigarette smoking, medical professionals say.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 600 million people suffer from COPD while more than half of them are undiagnosed.

COPD ranks as the fourth leading cause of death worldwide and the WHO estimate that it will go up to the third by the year 2020.

In China, more than three out of every 100 people are thought to have COPD.

"The incidence of COPD has stayed high worldwide in recent years, while the public has failed to pay enough attention to it," said professor Zhao Mingwu with the Chinese Medical Association.

"The first step is to raise awareness, and this is what World COPD Day and the ongoing campaign are designed to do."

Professor He Quanying, with the Beijing People's Hospital, said early diagnosis and treatment were critical for the control of COPD.

He said: "A breathing test can help to identify early signs of COPD and enable effective measures to control the disease to be taken.

"These include giving up smoking, improving indoor and outdoor air quality, and taking medicine for brochium diastole."

(China Daily November 21, 2002)