S.African govt awards $33 million respiratory contract to Cipla

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa has awarded Cipla Medpro a 345 million rand ($32.6 million) share in the national respiratory tender as Africa's most advanced economy seeks to cut high asthma mortality rates, the company said on Thursday.

"In South Africa, asthma is the third most common cause of hospital admissions of children, yet only two percent of asthmatics receive treatment," chief executive Paul Miller said in a statement.

South Africa has the world's fourth highest asthma death rate among 5-35 year olds, with thousands dying each year from a disease which causes shortness of breathe, wheezing and coughing, according to the Global Initiative for Asthma,

The contract runs from the beginning of next month to April 30, 2017 and will see South Africa's third largest pharmaceutical company providing asthma medication.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Joe Brock)