The National Asthma Control Program
Over 30 million Americans suffer from asthma. The impact of asthma on health, quality of life, and the economy is substantial. Nearly 5,000 U.S. deaths each year are attributed to asthma. Likewise, asthma causes nearly 2 million emergency room visits each year.
In 1999 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the National Asthma Control Program (NACP) to assist and support those suffering from asthma. The NACP is designed to reduce the number of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, school or work days missed, and limitations on activity due to asthma. To accomplish these goals, the CDC has funded 11 asthma tracking projects, 48 asthma interventions, and 33 asthma partnership projects. The CDC has also funded six urban school districts, one state education agency, and six national non-government organizations that support and address asthma-related needs within coordinated school health programs.
Some of the highlights of the NACP (National Asthma Control Program):
- Enhanced surveillance of asthma deaths. The California and Michigan health departments have received CDC funding to develop and implement a rapid asthma death notification system. These systems will provide information about the circumstances surrounding each asthma death, which can be analyzed to determine whether the deaths were preventable and how similar deaths can be prevented in the future.
- Intervention to aid asthma sufferers. Through the NACP, inner city asthma sufferers are provided with information and assistance concerning their disease and its management. The goal is to minimize asthma-related deaths and to reduce absenteeism in school children suffering from asthma.
- Partnering with state health departments and private asthma foundations. The CDC has provided funding to state health departments to develop asthma control plans, which include disease tracking, intervention, and occupational components. Likewise, the CDC has provided funding to the Allergy and Asthma Network/Mothers of Asthmatics, the American Lung Association, and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, to support these organizations' asthma education efforts.
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