Asthma is a chronic non-communicable respiratory disease. According to the 2018 Global Asthma Report, asthma affects over 340 million people worldwide, the majority of whom reside in low-income and middle- income countries (LMICs). In contrast to many high-income countries (HICs), the prevalence of asthma is steadily increasing in LMICs, particularly in Africa. The latest systematic review on asthma prevalence in Africa shows that compared with 74 million in 1990, by 2010, asthma affected 119 million of the total population. Of concern, nearly half of these asthma cases were children under 15 years.2 Countries with the highest childhood asthma prevalence in Africa, South Africa (20.3%), Congo (19.9%) and Ivory Coast (19.3 %), are also regions with increasing urbanisation rates. Factors associated with urbanisation including poverty, poor air quality and lifestyle and dietary changes may drive the rising asthma rate and impact asthma control. However, in this setting, access to asthma healthcare and diagnosis as well as asthma research and research infra- structure remains lacking.