Since breath is life, lung health ought to be as high on the global public health agenda as other basic health issues, such as cardiac health or obesity, but it is not. In 2010, The Union helped organise a Year of the Lung campaign to highlight this disparity and the fact that lung diseases kill more than 10 million people a year.

The Union has joined international efforts to raise awareness of the threat caused by the increase in non-communicable diseases as a partner in the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance with the World Heart Federation, International Diabetes Federation and the Union for International Cancer Control. NCDs, including not only chronic respiratory diseases, but also cancer and diabetes, are under-recognised and under-funded by health systems. As the burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries begins to shift from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases, this issue is a major public health challenge.

Many of these diseases, such as diabetes and tuberculosis, are linked, creating complex challenges for health care systems. It is The Union's goal to help meet these challenges and find health solutions for the poor.