The Impact of Medical TV Drama in Improving Literacy on Asthma

Asthma is an important chronic noncommunicable disease that affects children and adults following a complex immune-mediated mechanism involving airway inflammation, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and transient and intermittent airway obstruction. A current global empirical study, published in 2025, estimated that asthma affects about 260 million people, and it is responsible for about 455,000 deaths globally. Despite the morbidity and mortality-laden nature of asthma, the awareness and knowledge of this important condition remains low among several populations. Notably, no known multi-country intervention study has ever investigated the effectiveness, acceptability, and usability of medical TV programs in educating young persons on asthma. Therefore, this two-arm randomized control trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the impact of watching a medical TV drama on asthma among a sample of individuals (who do not have prior medical knowledge) from different cultural backgrounds and countries.