About the Program
Introduction
The Air
Pollution and Respiratory Health Program of the National Center for
Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
leads CDC’s fight against environmental-related respiratory illnesses,
including asthma, and studies indoor and outdoor air pollution.
CDC’s
asthma program focuses on three main activities:
- tracking:
collecting and analyzing data on an ongoing basis to understand when,
where, and in whom asthma occurs;
- implementing
scientifically proven interventions: ensuring that scientific
information is translated into public health practices and programs to
reduce the burden of asthma; and
- establishing
and maintaining partnerships: ensuring that all stakeholders have
the opportunity to be involved in developing, implementing, and
evaluating local asthma control asthma programs.
This
same approach of research-based intervention conducted in partnership
with international, national, and local partners is applied to CDC’s
work in preventing carbon monoxide poisoning, studying the health
effects of exposure to forest fire smoke, battling chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, and investigating human health effects of mold
exposure.
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Tracking
CDC
provides on-site, short-term consultation and epidemiological assistance
to both domestic and international public health agencies. For example,
CDC staff are currently studying the effect of outdoor air pollution on
children’s asthma in the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez international trucking
corridor in cooperation with the U.S.-Mexico Foundation and others.
In
conjunction with the National Center for Health Statistics and the
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the
Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Program supports a number of major
asthma data collection efforts, including:
-
collection of state-level adult asthma prevalence rates for detailed
subgroups in 50 states and 4 territories through the Behavioral Risk
Factor Surveillance System Survey;
-
collection of data on days of restricted activity, days in bed, days
of work or school lost, physician visits, and hospitalizations due to
asthma through the National Health Interview Survey; and
-
collection of in-depth state and local asthma data through development
and testing of a National Asthma Survey (currently used in five
states).
These
data allow CDC and states to plan and evaluate asthma control
interventions.
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Interventions
CDC’s
National Asthma Control Program was created in 1999 to support the goals
and objectives of Healthy People 2010. With appropriations of
over $35 million, CDC funded 11 asthma tracking projects, 48 asthma
interventions, and 33 asthma partnership projects for 2003, as well as 6
urban school districts, 1 state education agency, and 6 non-governmental
organizations to conduct school health-related asthma control programs.
CDC
identified potentially effective interventions describing and
documenting research-based asthma control interventions that are being
implemented in communities worldwide (http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/airpollution/asthma/
interventions/interventions.htm). For example, CDC funds the Inner
City Asthma Intervention, a four-year program implemented at 23 sites in
15 states and based on nearly a decade of research performed by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In addition, CDC
funds the Controlling Asthma in American Cities Project (CAACP) in seven
cities. CAACP is a locally developed, multi-component asthma initiative
aimed at reducing the burden of asthma in communities.
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Partnerships
CDC
works with government and non-governmental agencies and organizations
worldwide to conduct research and surveillance and to develop training
materials, educational information, and innovative methods to address
respiratory health problems associated with air pollution. Through these
efforts CDC helps local and state governments and private agencies
inform the public about the health effects of air pollution and provides
people with accurate and useful information about steps they can take to
protect their health.
CDC
partners with state health departments in 29 states and the District of
Columbia to develop asthma control plans that include disease tracking,
intervention, and occupational components, as well as working with state
health departments in 6 states to implement such plans. Additionally,
CDC partners with major non-governmental agencies such as the American
Lung Association, the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, and the
Allergy and Asthma Network/Mothers of Asthmatics to support asthma
control activities such as adult educational programs and addressing
asthma control through school health programs.
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Other Air Quality Research and Interventions
CDC is
engaged in a number of studies including ones that will evaluate the
public health impact of forest fire smoke exposure, is investigating the
link between recreational boating and carbon monoxide poisoning, and
plans to analyze state data to define the public health problem
potentially associated with Acute Idiopathic Pulmonary Hemorrhage among
infants.
CDC has
partnered with the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center
to investigate biomass smoke exposure among forest firefighters, with
the National Park Service and state recreation departments to
investigate carbon monoxide poisoning and recreational boating, and with
Native American tribes to investigate the impact of mold exposure on
human health.
For more
information on the program, visit
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/airpollution, e-mail
EHHEinq@cdc.gov, or call
1-888-232-6789.
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