Public Health Professionals

The following Web pages offer information about public health issues regarding asthma.

Strategies and Guidance

Addressing Asthma in Homes [PDF – 2 MB]

This document provides a compilation of information and resources for implementing asthma programs in homes.

Addressing Asthma in Schools [PDF – 6MB]

This document provides a compilation of information and resources for implementing asthma programs in schools.

Home-based Multi-trigger, Multi-component Environmental Interventions

Interventions that target a wide variety of asthma triggers through home visits are beneficial in improving asthma outcomes. CDC scientists and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services systematically reviewed the evidence of effectiveness of home-based multi-trigger multi-component environmental interventions in improving asthma-related morbidity. Findings from this review indicate that home-based multi-trigger, multi-component, interventions with an environmental focus are effective in improving overall quality of life and productivity in children with asthma.

Key Health and Cost Information for Payers and Providers

This document presents a summary of evidence for payers and providers regarding the benefits of following the 2007 National Asthma Education and Prevention Program clinical practice and medical management guidelines.

Program Evaluation

On this page you will find resources for planning and implementing program evaluation including the CDC National Asthma Control Program’s Learning & Growing through Evaluation: State Asthma Program Evaluation Guide (May 2010), CDC Evaluation Working Group—Framework for Program Evaluation, and Introduction to Program Evaluation for Public Health Programs: A Self-Study Guide (August 2005).

 

CDC Resources

Allergy Testing for Persons with Asthma [PDF – 96 KB]

This fact sheet discusses how allergies affect individuals with asthma and allergy testing.

Asthma and Inhalant Allergens [PPT – 4 MB]

This slide presentation describes the process through which inhalant allergens can affect individuals with asthma; describes the types of inhalant allergens that can affect individuals with asthma; reviews NAEPP recommendations for the evaluation of inhalant allergens for persons with asthma, and reviews NAEPP recommendations for the environmental control of inhalant allergens for individuals with asthma found to be sensitive to inhalant allergens.

Podcast Series: Asthma Community Network – Conversations for Advancing Action

This podcast series explores best practices for reducing the impact of asthma, especially in underserved communities. Hear from people who have successfully developed asthma management programs that have improved health outcomes in their communities. Learn about their effective health delivery systems; strategies for addressing environmental triggers; key partnerships; and the tools and resources they use to achieve outstanding results.

Know How to Use Your Asthma Inhaler

CDC’s National Asthma Control Program developed this set of videos to help public health professionals explain proper inhaler techniques to people with asthma and to their families and caregivers. These step-by-step instructions are presented in English and in Spanish. Use the videos at your office and provide the website address so that more people are able to control their asthma.

Asthma: A Presentation of Asthma Management and Prevention

(Slide Presentation and Speaker Notes)
This 75-slide presentation depicts the pathophysiology of asthma; prevalence, mortality, and morbidity measures at the national level; risk factors; medical management; and the public health response needed to successfully fight asthma.

National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network

Asthma prevalence data among adults and children in every state can also be viewed through the Tracking Network. Your search results can be displayed in dynamic, customizable map, chart, and table views. You can also print and email your results and export the data into CSV files for further analysis.

Office on Public Health Genomics (OPHG)

Advances in asthma genomics are occurring rapidly. Although these advances have not yet caused a change in the methods of asthma prevention, diagnosis, or treatment, new strategies to prevent and manage asthma are likely to be developed within the near future.

Quality Measures Summary [PDF – 613 KB]

Quality measures are tools that help measure or quantify healthcare processes, outcomes, patient perceptions, organizational structure, and systems and are associated with the ability to provide high-quality health care.

Government Departments, Agencies, and Resources

Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia (CEMM)

The Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia (CEMM) was established in 1996 with the support and direction of the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General. The CEMM Asthma Web Site provides an overview of asthma. Topics include diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and common triggers of asthma.

Progress Reviews for Healthy People 2020

Healthy People 2020 Progress Reviews are intended to provide the Assistant Secretary for Health, senior Health and Human Services (HHS) officials, Healthy People 2020 stakeholders, and the public with information and data on the current status of objectives within each of the Healthy People 2020 Topic Areas.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

 

National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

This site provides support for scientists conducting research aimed at developing better ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent asthma.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

This institute coordinates and supports research on environmental health sciences and provides resources.

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

The National Library of Medicine, the largest online medical library, provides health information, library services, research programs, and general information related to topics such as asthma.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—Asthma Page

EPA informs people about the environment and develops and enforces regulations about the environment. Its mission is to protect human health and the environment. Visit this Web site to learn about EPA’s Asthma Education Campaigns to promote asthma awareness in your community and the EPA National Environmental Leadership Awards.

Other U.S. Organizations and Resources

American Academy of Pediatrics

This site offers information to help you learn more about childhood asthma and allergies.

• State of Childhood Asthma and Future Directions: Strategies for Implementing Best Practices. Pediatrics 2009;123;S129–214. Available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/vol123/Supplement_3/.
  Accessed: July 1, 2009.

Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP)

This organization works with medical directors, quality improvement staff, and other health plan officials to improve the health care system and the lives of people in the communities they serve. The site provides background information about the intervention “Asthma Intervention for Inter-City Children.”

Allies Against Asthma (Allies)

Allies Against Asthma, a program of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, was a national initiative to improve asthma control for children and adolescents. This site provides tools and resources that may be useful to other asthma coalitions and programs addressing asthma.

American’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)

Sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans, Taking on Asthma is a national program to improve the quality of care provided to people with asthma and enhance their quality of life. AHIP offers resources and tools that may be useful to health insurance plans to improve the overall quality of asthma care.

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)

This organization formulates and influences public health policy to ensure excellence in state-based public health practice.

Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. (CHCS)

This site provides information about the Improving Asthma Care for Children initiative to improve the management of pediatric asthma in high-risk recipients of Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs under managed care.

Communities in Action for Asthma-Friendly Environments Network

EPA supports this network in partnership with Allies Against Asthma, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It provides community-based asthma programs with a platform for real-time learning that can drive ongoing improvement of asthma care.

• Resource Bank
  Find valuable asthma-related materials and resources to assist your program or coalition.
• Webinar Series
  Learn knowledge and information from leading experts and asthma-management program leaders from across the country.

Institute of Medicine (IOM)

Clearing the Air: Asthma and Indoor Air Exposure—Executive Summary is a book that contains information about the role that indoor air pollution plays in asthma causation, prevalence, triggering, and severity.

National Asthma Educator Certification Board

The National Asthma Educator Certification Board promotes optimal asthma management and quality of life among individuals with asthma, their families and communities by advancing excellence in asthma education through the Certified Asthma Educator process.