Promoting effective self-management programmes to improve COPD.

T he recent priority focus on integrated chronic care is not surprising given the burden of chronic disease. This focus has led to the development of integrated care programmes for chronically ill patients. Despite important heterogeneity in these programmes, there is a commonality of objectives i.e. to reduce fragmentation of care, and to increase continuity and coordination of care [1]. Self-management interventions are an important component of integrated chronic care and the most commonly mentioned [2].