Welcome to issue 109 of Respiratory Research Review, focussing on an illness that affects more than 300 million people worldwide and leads to an estimated 250,000 deaths per year. This summer, our local community experienced first hand the death of a young asthma patient; the key findings from the UK National Review of Asthma Deaths ‘why asthma still kills’ are also relevant for us in NZ.  To read more please see the attached PDF.