E-POSTER GALLERY (ID 409)

P-1153 - Addressing the environmental burden of asthma through expansion of a public health evidence base, practice, and stewardship: CDC's National Asthma Control Program

Abstract Control Number
1961
Abstract Body
The National Asthma Control Program (NACP), established by CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health in 1999, works with state, territorial, and city health departments and other partners to build community coalitions that develop localized control interventions for asthma, a common chronic disorder with no known cure. The program has reduced the national burden of asthma, helping to cut the number of people with asthma who had asthma attacks from 12.7 million in 2011 to 11.2 million in 2018, reduce deaths linked to asthma, and--in a single year--saving nearly $4 billion as a result of fewer asthma-related hospitalizations. The NACP uses a multifaceted approach: disease and mortality surveillance, utilizing the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System with Asthma Call-Back Household/Child Surveys; epidemiology to describe disease burden and risk factors for asthma exacerbation; evaluation to assess program effectiveness and return on investment; communication to educate people with asthma and their caregivers and to disseminate findings; and programmatic operations to support surveillance, partnerships, implementation, and evaluation of six evidence-based strategies of the EXHALE technical package. The NACP initially funded four state health department partners to work on asthma in 1999, supported 34 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico at its height during 2010-2014, and currently funds 22 states, city of Houston, and Puerto Rico. It works to solve a complex dynamic equation of large public health disparities, changes in ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes, having inadequate health insurance coverage or none, and a lag in accessing data. Through direct funding and expert support, NACP partners implement evidence-based programs with prescribed measures of performance, including accountability and health outcomes. Using science and practice, NACP and its partners today have moved into a new phase, implementing a five-year initiative to eliminate 500,000 emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma among children.